The Trouble With Haruno
by xXxBlessxThexFallxXx
Summary: Sakura comes back to town after leaving for 5 years. Sasuke has to deal with feelings towards the pinkette that he never realized he could still have for her, a whore of a girlfriend, and other guys hitting on Sakura. SasuSaku  AU
1. Apples In Stereo

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the series or the characters. I also don't own the quotes put at the beginning of each chapter. This disclaimer goes for the rest of the story.

The Trouble with Haruno

"_Can you feel it, feel it? It makes you feel so good."_

_-Can You Feel It?-_

Apple's In Stereo

There is a street, Motorhead Street to be specific, in the city of Konohagakure with an old house that was home to a depressed 35 year old man. His house was painted in a way that allowed him to remember his daughter. Unfortunately it also reminds him just how long it had been since she had been gone.

The carnation pink house had emerald green shutters that matched the wooden stairs and door, but this brightly colored house still managed to give off the aura of abandonment. Not that the depressed man let the house stay dirty and rot by any means, but it's been said that a house reflects it's owner. That saying, at least in this case, would be the only reasonable explanation for such a depressing aura emanating from such a cheerfully colored house.

This disheartened and deserted man, Moigi Haruno, had been doing nothing of much importance in the afternoon of one of the hottest days in September when he received a call that put a stop to his seemingly endless unhappiness right then and there. His daughter, whom he hadn't seen in five years, wanted to live with him her junior and senior year of school. Moigi, of course, agreed wholeheartedly.

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Across the street from the Haruno residence stood a man with black hair and cold brown eyes. He had been watching his best friend since childhood, Moigi, receive the call, and wondered briefly why his friend's mood had suddenly taken a turn for the better. Not that it was an unpleasant sight, it was just unexpected. This man, Fugaku Uchiha, only had these thought for a moment because he then realized that the only thing that could lift the veil of depression that Moigi had warn for five years would be if his daughter was coming back home where she belonged.

Fugaku had to smile in spite of himself. Life around Konohagakure would be much more interesting now, and maybe he could convince the girl to date one of his two sons. Fugaku had always thought of the Harunos as merely an extension of the Uchiha family, and now he was hoping to make that official.

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Across the city of Konohagakure, on Log Avenue, lived a blonde teenage girl with blue eyes. She had received a phone call from her best friend, a pinkette that she hadn't physically seen in five years, and the news was exciting. Finally, after five empty years waiting and missing her more with every passing second, Sakura Haruno was coming back.

"Ino-pig, please don't tell the others. I, obviously, had to tell my dad, and he's friends with Sasuke's dad, so Itachi and Sasuke already know, but please don't tell anyone else. I want it to be a surprise." Sakura requested of her third best friend. (She may be Ino's best friend, but Sakura's first two best friend positions were already taken.)

Ino could do nothing but agree. The blonde was ecstatic! In just a few hours her best friend would be back in Konohagakure.

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Okay, I know I usually hate this couple with a passion, but after reading an ItaSaku fic I realized that Sasuke isn't a total asshole, and then I read "Ripples" by Yellow Mask…yeah. And I know chapter one is not long, but there will be longer chapters coming, I promise. Read and Review please!


	2. Bless The Fall

"_I remember when we were younger. We had nothing, but strived for something. And I wanna thank you for this chance to be angels. Thank you for everything. We had nothing, but strived for something."_

_-Times like These-_

Bless the Fall

Sakura Haruno was in the Konohagakure Airport around 5:30 P.M waiting for her father to arrive. She couldn't wait to see his reaction to her new and improved self. Unfortunately, she also had to see what her friends' reactions would be. That prospect was slightly frightening. What if they decided they didn't like the new her?

_'They can deal with it. There is no way in hell that I'm changing myself back to the girl I used to be. I like who I've become.'_ Sakura thought decisively. If they didn't like it, then screw them…figuratively speaking of course.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard someone clear their throat behind her. Sakura turned to see what it was about and saw her father and Fugaku Uchiha with his two sons. The pinkette enthusiastically embraced her father, Fugaku, and Fugaku's eldest son Itachi. When Sakura got to Fugaku's youngest son, Sasuke, she greeted him with a simple wave.

Itachi gave Sasuke a smirk as he mumbled, "It seems that our beloved Cherry Blossom has reevaluated who her favorite out of us is."

Sasuke said nothing, settling with a simple glare at his brother, and only moved when Sakura began dragging the adults to the baggage claim area. While the blue-black haired boy was behind everyone, he took the opportunity to look Sakura over. She had definitely changed in these past five years of her absence.

She was wearing ripped up dark blue Tripp skinny jeans, colorful Draven high tops, black fingerless silver-studded leather gloves, black nail-polish, and a white and black Tripp corset top. Last time he had seen her she wore pink American Eagle and Abercrombie clothing. As far as Sasuke could tell, now only her hair color and eyes were the same as he remembered.

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In an effort to make Sakura's return a special event, Moigi and Fugaku decided to have a "welcome home" dinner. The two fathers agreed that both of Fugaku's sons should be included, and to send all three of them out to a movie afterwards. Both fathers made sure that Sakura had no clue as to what would be happening.

When dinner was over, Moigi announced the news. Sasuke and Itachi were both worried when they were informed that Sakura got the honor of choosing the movie because they were afraid that it would be a chick flick.

"Well, I haven't seen the new 'Nightmare on Elm Street' or 'I Spit on Your Grave' yet." Sakura thought out loud.

There was a stunned silence, and Sakura gave all the guys in the room a strange look. _'It's as if they have never heard a girl request a horror movie before.'_ Sakura thought.

"Well, which would you prefer?" Itachi asked, breaking the awkward silence.

Sakura thought about that for a moment and decided to go with 'Nightmare on Elm Street.' After the decision had been made, Sakura rode on the back of Itachi's black and red Harley Motorcycle. Sasuke couldn't help but reflect on his brother's words at the airport. _**"It seems that our beloved Cherry Blossom has reevaluated who her favorite out of us is."**_

_'Well,' _Sasuke told himself, _'that's okay. It's better than when we were twelve and she never left me alone.' _But no matter how Sasuke looked at it, he couldn't help but wonder, _'Why Itachi?'_

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Okay, so I have a challenge for you guys. I'm doing two certain patterns with the names of my chapter titles. Whoever guesses both patterns correctly first I will write a oneshot of whatever couple they choose for them and post it. Anywhoo, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I would like to clarify, again, that this is a SasuSaku fic. Itachi and her are just friends. And I would like to apologize again for the short chapter. I really am working on making them longer, I promise. Read and Review please!


	3. Cute Is What We Aim For

Orochimaruninjafan: You are correct. What couple would you like me to write a oneshot for? And thanks for your review.

"_Hey! Hey! Hey! Miss confidence, do you remember when you kept me safe? Are my eyes deceiving? Are you believing? Or have I made you lose your faith? One man's pain is another man's pleasure."_

_-Miss Sobriety-_

Cute is What We Aim For

The movie ended up pissing Haruno off, so the three friends left early. Sakura suggested that they find a party and het drunk off their asses. Itachi said no to that idea, but, not one to be discouraged, Sakura then suggested scoring some weed and getting _stoned_ off their asses. Sasuke disagreed with that one. The pinkette's final suggestion was that they go have some illegal fun downtown, but both Uchihas opposed with that one.

"You guys are no fun." Sakura pouted.

"No, you just want to do things that could end up getting us all in major trouble." Sasuke pointed out.

"Yeah, because that's what makes it so thrilling. It's a dangerous challenge just waiting to be taken. Besides, it's only illegal if you get caught."

Sasuke had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. She reminded him so much of their blonde friend Naruto that it was ridiculous. _'Speaking of Naruto…'_ Sasuke thought.

"Hey, I'm taking you to the dobe's house tomorrow." Sasuke declared.

"Naruto isn't a dobe you asshole, but okay. Is Ita-kun coming?" Sakura defended and asked.

"No Blossom, I'm not." Itachi answered before the younger got the chance to answer.

The youngest Uchiha couldn't help but question why the pinkette wanted Itachi around so much all of a sudden. When the three were younger, Sakura was terrified of the older Uchiha. What had changed? Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted by Sakura's apology to him.

"Why are you apologizing?" Sasuke asked in confusion.

He never got his answer because the Cherry Blossom had turned her attention back to Itachi already. He told himself it didn't bother him. Really. It didn't. _'Then what is this feeling…?' _Sasuke asked himself.

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It was about 2 AM when the three teens finally arrived home. The boys went with Sakura across the street to help the best that they could with any trouble she may have gotten herself into with her father, but just ended up getting another surprise. Instead of walking in through the front door like both boys expected and like she would have if she had been in Konohagakure for the last five years, she snuck in through a second story window; it was the window to her old and present room.

"Ita-kun, Sasuke!" She exclaimed with a whisper once she was safely in the room.

Both Uchihas looked up expectantly with a questioning look on their faces.

"Thanks." Sakura smiled and then left the window. Once the Cherry Blossom was gone, the boys walked home in silence. They both had a lot to think about.

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Sakura peered around her room, and realized that she needed to do some serious redecorating. Her room looked exactly the same as it did the day she left with her mother. The walls were still the bright pink she herself had insisted upon at age five, and the curtains on her window were still white lace. Sakura's bed was still covered with a white and pink bed set.

"The first change to make is the wall color, and then," she cringed as her eyes fell upon her Britney Spears, N'sync, and backstreet boys posters that she used to adore, "get new posters."

With that decided she, reluctantly, took her clothes off and slid into bed.

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Sasu: I didn't get to see that, why?

Me: *Smacks the back of Sasuke's head* pervert.

Sasu: It was a simple question…

Me: Don't make me change the pairing! I'll put Sakura with Itachi and you with Karin…

Sasu: Sorry! Please don't do that! *Panics*

Saku: Sasuke…calm yourself.

Sasu: *clings to Sakura* I refuse to be with anyone but you! Save me Sakura!

Me: Yeah… it's not up to you guys. Don't worry though; I'm not changing the pairing.

Saku: Thanks xXxBlessxThexFallxXx *smiles*

Me: No problamo. Read and review please. Thank you to my reviewer from the last chapter.


	4. Drowning Pool

"_It's too much. Not enough. What you need I don't get. I don't know why you never say; you never do. Is this my luck again? Silent words never shed. All I get is you turning away."_

_-Turn So Cold-_

Drowning Pool

Sakura awoke in the morning with a splitting headache caused by, in her opinion of course, all the fucking pink! _'God damn mother and her god damn opinions.'_ Sakura growled in her mind.

She got up quickly, squinting against the sun that filtered through her _'FUCKING WHITE LACED CURTAINS!'_…Yeah, those. _'What the fuck was my issue? To think that I was ever a morning person, I was fucking crazy.' _She continued her rant in her head.

The carnation haired girl stalked over to her packed bag and grabbed her undergarments, repeating the process with her clothing. She then went across the hall to shower, brush her teeth, get dressed, brush her hair, and apply the small amount of makeup she wore. In that exact order.

"Fucking sun and chirping birds. I'll fucking murder those birds. And stupid fucking mother for picking out stupid fucking curtains eleven fucking years ago." Sakura cursed under her breath before getting in the shower.

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Across the street, there was a similar scene occurring. Sasuke growled viciously when his older brother woke him with a smirk on his pretty face. It pissed the chicken haired teen off to no end only because it was the exact same smirk Itachi had given him _all_ yesterday evening simply because Sakura had been ignoring Sasuke for the most part, and not Itachi.

"Get out of my room asshole!" Sasuke shouted angrily.

"But little brother, don't you wanna be ready to take Sakura-Chan to your blonde idiot friend's house?" Itachi asked slyly, but left with Sasuke's glare.

At mention of that little "field trip" Sasuke groaned, but pushed himself to get out of bed. _'I can't believe I actually suggested that. Why did I offer that again?'_ Sasuke asked himself as he thought back.

_**Flashback**_

_** The pinkette enthusiastically embraced her father, Fugaku, and Fugaku's eldest son Itachi. When Sakura got to Fugaku's youngest son, Sasuke, she greeted him with a simple wave.**_

_**End Flashback**_

The dark haired teen flinched.

_**Flashback**_

_** "It seems our beloved cherry blossom has reevaluated who her favorite out of us is."**_

_**End Flashback**_

_'Damn him! Why do those words keep coming back to haunt me?'_ Sasuke questioned with a glare.

_**Flashback**_

_** After the decision had been made, Sakura rode on the back of Itachi's motorcycle.**_

_**End Flashback**_

A deep sadness surged over Sasuke.

_**Flashback**_

_** 'Why did she choose Itachi?'**_

_**End Flashback**_

The question echoed through his head and lingered unwanted.

"Yeah, I have no clue why I suggested…" Sasuke muttered on his way to the shower, completely disregarding all evidence of why he suggested it.

Okay, so maybe the scene wasn't _exactly_ similar… but hey, it sounded good.

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Sakura emerged from the bathroom wearing neon pink and white tye dye booty shorts with black and white striped tights underneath them, and a plain black tank top. Her eye shadow was neon pink while her eyeliner and mascara were the standard black. No other makeup was needed. The most significant change about her though was that she was in a much better mood.

The pinkette smelled breakfast food and her nose wrinkled in revulsion. _'I hate breakfast so much!' _Sakura thought. She didn't know why, but skipping breakfast had become a habit over the years.

Finally, not able to stand being in her disgustingly girly room anymore, she headed downstairs to greet her chipper father. He was whistling show tunes. The look on Sakura's faced clearly screamed "what in the hundred layers of hell do you think you're doing?' Moigi, obviously, didn't quite understand the look so, without further ado, the pinkette decided to spell it out for him.

"What the fuck, dad?" Sakura bluntly questioned.

Moigi, taken aback by his beloved princess's language, just stared in bewilderment. _'Well,'_ Sakura thought, _'at least he stopped whistling.'_ She smiled, slipped on a pair of black mid-shin high combat boots, and dashed toward the Uchiha residence. It may seem silly, but she couldn't wait to see Naruto. It would be exciting; the three of them united once more after so many years.

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"Fuck my life!" the entire neighborhood could hear Sasuke's cursing when a glass jar of Mayo fell out of the fridge and onto said boy's bare toes as he opened the refrigerator door in search of juice.

Sasuke had been so loud that he hadn't heard the sounds that indicated someone had entered the house, but he did hear familiar laughter after he had finally quieted. The blue black haired boy was mortified when he turned around to confirm his suspicions. Not only had Sakura witnessed that display first-hand, but he was…in nothing but…a…towel.

"Shit!" Sasuke spat out vehemently while blushing and then sprinted up to his room, and hurriedly dressed himself.

When Sasuke emerged from his bedroom, he was wearing black skinny jeans with a black wife-beater. Around his neck hung a silver cross-shaped necklace that Sakura had gotten him when he turned fourteen. She had mailed it to him. _'Not a big deal, she mailed everyone something for their birthdays every year she was gone.'_ Thought Sasuke, remembering the Rosewood Pro-lock IV pocket knife she had given him the year before the necklace (they were hard to find and pretty expensive. He remembered all the information by heart. The knife was stainless steel with a 2 inch blade and a rosewood handle. Sasuke had appreciated the length of the blade because it meant he could legally carry around. Not that he wouldn't have even if it was illegal.).

The teenage boy shook his head of all these thoughts and came back to the present. Here and now was a good place to be.

"Let's go to Naruto's and kick his ass awake!" the pink-haired girl in front of him suggested with an evil little smile that even Sasuke had learned years ago to fear.

"Hn." Was the Uchiha's chosen response, and then they both got on Sasuke's motorcycle and took off.

Yeah, here and now was definitely a good place because, after all, _'She's back…'_ Sasuke gave a minute smile. He could get used to her presence once again. _'Especially since she's not so clingy this time around.'_ Sasuke declared to himself, but even with that declaration the prior thought kept running through his head, along with that pleasant fuzzy warm feeling a person gets sometimes after thinking back and realizing your day has gone perfectly.

Unfortunately, whether Sasuke admits this to himself in the next couple chapters or not, his day did not end up going perfectly.

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Chapter four is up! See, I promised longer chapters and I have delivered. Now it's time for you to deliver reviews ^-^

Sasuke: How is my day not perfect?

Me: You'll see *evil laughter*

Sakura: Um… do I like the day?

Me: I haven't decided yet, but most likely

Naruto: I get to see Sakura-Chan!

Sasuke: I saw her before you dobe.

Naruto! Sasuke-Teme! *the two start fighting*

Sakura: *Rolls eyes* I'll go deal with them. In the meantime, review please!


	5. Escape The Fate

Raven Rose 101: Thank you. I enjoy making Sakura like this, but she still has her girly moments as you will see. Thank you for your review.

Marie Blubert: Thank you and I have. I even have the new chapter to prove it.

"_One last chance to reverse this curse, you stole my heart, but I had it first. And now I see you've got something to prove, and nothing to lose; so let me tell you the truth."_

_-Reverse This Curse-_

Escape the Fate

Bang! Bang! Bang!

_'What the fuck is that noise?'_ thought a tired and groggy boy with mussed blonde hair and clear blue eyes.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

_'There it is again…' _the blonde frowned.

Bang! Bang!

"Naruto you dobe, wake your ass up!" a male voice shouted from outside the front door.

_'I recognize that voice. That's Sasuke-Teme…' _Naruto sleepily thought.

"Fuck you bastard! I'm going back to sleep, leave me alone!" Naruto yelled in response to Sasuke's earlier verbal abuse.

"Damn it Naruto, I have a surprise for you!" Sasuke screamed in frustration.

Now _that_ got Naruto's attention. The blonde ran to the door and opened it quickly. Naruto was excited. Usually when Sasuke got him something it would be Ramen, Naruto's favorite food.

"Okay, where's the Ramen?" aforementioned blonde demanded.

Sasuke sighed and said, "This time your surprise is _way_ better than Ramen."

Naruto frowned. What could be better than Ramen? He took a few moments to think, but came up with a blank.

"What is sooo much better than Ramen that you had to wake me up _five hours_ before two in the afternoon?" Naruto asked curiously, but still somewhat grumpily.

Sasuke's response was to smirk and step to the left a bit, revealing a dangerously cute looking pink haired seventeen year old girl with emerald eyes. The blonde blinked once. She was still there. He rubbed his eyes. She was still there. He pinched himself. _She was still there!_

"Sakura-Chan!" Naruto shouted in joy and glomped the girl.

Sakura attempted to push the overly eager and happy boy off her, but to no avail. He was going to keep hugging her breathless.

After seeing the "blossom" start turning a shade of purple, Sasuke pulled Naruto off of her forcefully. It was not jealousy. He was simply keeping her from suffocating. That's what he told himself anyways.

"Eh heh heh, sorry Sakura-Chan. I got a bit carried away." Naruto grinned sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head nervously.

Before Sakura could say anything, both boys saw the girl's eyes widen and a light blush tint her cheeks as she stared at something behind Naruto.

"Hey, who's the cute chick Naruto?" said the male voice of the object (more like _guy_ Sasuke noted with a growl) that had caught the pinkette's attention.

The boy had orange hair, red-orange eyes, three bridge piercings, two lip piercings, an eyebrow piercing, and multiple piercings on both his ears. _'I think I just found my first interest in a guy here for five years.'_ Sakura thought, mesmerized by the sight of this godly creature.

"H-hi, I'm Sakura Haruno." Sakura nervously introduced herself to the epitome of hotness.

The ginger smirked in Sakura's direction and then said, "I'm Pein Nagato. Nice to meet you… Sakura."

When he said her name, it was like music to Sakura's ears. Sakura blushed prettily when Pein's eyes locked with hers. _'I want her. Surprisingly, I want this pink haired girl A LOT.'_ Pein thought with slight amusement.

"Sakura, would you like to go on a date with me tonight?" Pein asked huskily.

"I, uh w-well I-I would love t-to." Sakura stuttered out her answer. _'The sex god asked me out on a date!'_

Sasuke's jaw clenched. He was a bit upset. Mildly irritated. A little mad. Pretty angry. Okay, he was _pissed_, but _not_ because he wanted Sakura for himself. No, never. He was only so angry because he thought hat his cherry blossom…er… _the_ cherry blossom…deserved better than some pierced up wanna-be gangster shit who needed a major attitude adjustment. And what was worse was that Pein was Itachi's friend.

"See ya tonight Sakura-Chan…" Pein whispered before walking away.

It seemed everyone was oblivious to Sasuke's inner turmoil. _'I will protect Sakura! If he hurts her, or even so much as looks at her wrong, I will beat his ass black, blue, and fucking purple!'_ Sasuke decided with determination.

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Chapter five! Sasuke interrupted a lot, no? Lolz Review please.


	6. Framing Hanley

Valzchan: Thank you very much, and if you ask Sasuke he wasn't being defensive at all even though he so was (Sasuke: I'm JUST looking out for her safety!) See, he's in denial still. (Sasuke: It's not denial damn it! / Me: Sure….) Anywhoo, thanks for your review.

Raven Rose 101: Thank you and I would just like to say that was a nice use of fuck right there (Pein: I agree wholeheartedly). And you are very perceptive. I just make her go on a date with Pein and you figured that out lolz. Actually, not all of them will, just most of them… and Gaara as well as Sai (Sasuke: That's WAY too many people before me…. / Me: You'll get over it Cleopatra. / Sasuke: What the fuck did you call me that for? / Me: You're the queen of denial. / Sasuke: …. / Me: Exactly.) Anywhoo, it will probably be more difficult for Sasuke to get her then even I anticipated and I'm the one writing these things. Thanks for your review!

"_I know I'm a bastard. I'm not a coward. Why can't you see what you're doing to me? I'm falling faster, more every hour. Why can't you see what you're doing to me? Open your eyes. Open your eyes. This is killing me…"_

_-You Stupid Girl-_

Framing Hanley

Sakura had left soon after Pein. Consequently that meant Sasuke had to leave too considering he was her ride. As Sakura got on the back of Sasuke's dark blue 2011 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic SE Special Edition motorcycle and they were about to take off, the pinkette got a brilliant idea.

"Naruto!" She called to the blonde before he could enter his domain and continue his hibernation.

"Uh, yeah Sakura-Chan?" Naruto asked curiously as he turned around to face her.

Sakura grinned at him and said, "You should come with us over to my house."

The blonde quickly agreed and ran into his garage to bring out his white 2011 Harley-Davidson FXDF Fat Bob. He loved that thing. It was his life.

The first thing Sasuke noticed was the absence of Sakura's body pressed against his. The second was Sakura's laughter and the rev of Naruto's motorcycle. Sasuke turned his body slightly so he could see what was happening behind him and had to stop himself from growling in irritation as he watched Sakura hug Naruto from behind him on his motorcycle. The obvious feelings of anger and envy caught the Uchiha off guard. His surprise from such a violent reaction helped him reel in the earlier feelings, but he was left to ponder about his true feeling for the pinkette.

"Sasuke, hurry up and start your bike already, we need to get going!" the pinkette of his thoughts shouted at him.

He nodded his agreement and started his bike with a loud revving, and then took off without warning. Naruto wasn't slow about following, and they were riding side by side within thirty seconds.

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The trip to Sakura's house took a grand total of five minutes thanks to the boys' insane driving. The boys got off the motorcycles and turned to face Sakura, fully expecting to be hit over the head and yelled at for being "reckless idiots", but there were even more surprises.

"That was so fun you guys, thanks a bunch!" Sakura laughed and hugged the bewildered boys before dragging them both up to her…awfully pink…room.

_'Looks like some things don't change…'_ Sasuke thought with a grimace after he got a good view of the room he was being forced into. He then noticed that Sakura was about to talk, and decided to listen for fear of her wrath had she caught him ignoring her.

"Alright boys, our mission is to redecorate my room. This was my main reason behind bringing you both home with me." The pinkette revealed with a large grin.

"She makes us sound like lost puppies…" Naruto muttered to Sasuke, who agreed wholeheartedly.

Sasuke looked up at Sakura intently and suggested, "Let's have Itachi and his friends help."

Naruto turned his head quickly to look at Sasuke as if he just admitted to being gay and in love with him.

"That's a great idea Sasuke-kun…er… I mean Sasuke. I'll just call Itachi-kun right now." The Cherry-blossom commented as she searched through her bag for her cell phone.

"Sasuke, are you alright?" Naruto whispered while giving Sasuke a look of concern.

"I'm fine Dobe, why wouldn't I be?" the blue-haired teen asked.

Naruto just shook his head and said, "No reason."

Naruto was lying though. He could tell just from one day, that Sasuke still had feeling for Sakura. Yes, _still_. Sasuke may have denied it to everyone else, but he had admitted to Naruto when they were younger that he did in fact like Sakura back. Unfortunately fate was against Sasuke because the exact day he had steeled himself enough to admit it to Sakura's face, Sakura's mother had left Moigi and taken Sakura with her. It was at that point that Sasuke vowed to get over Sakura.

_'It didn't work though, did it Sasuke. None of your girlfriends could replace Sakura-Chan in your heart. Even the one you have now isn't what you really want…'_ Naruto thought sadly.

"Alright, Ita-kun is on his way over with his friends. I'm so excited about this!" Sakura informed with enthusiasm.

"Wow Sakura-Chan, you still like girly things like decorating?" Naruto asked giving her a horrified look.

"No, Naruto," Sakura laughed and continued," I found out that Pein is coming to help too!"

"You really haven't changed have you? You're still just as boy obsessed now as you were five years ago." Sasuke accused with a hard look.

Now, five years ago, that would have made Sakura break down in tears while incessantly apologizing to Sasuke, but that was then. Sakura had grown up since then, and her temper was worse now. So what was said next shocked both Boys.

"Shut the fuck up Sasuke. You don't know me at all. You didn't know me then, and you sure as hell don't know me now! You can say whatever you want about how I was back then, but never, and I mean _never_, speak as though you know me now. It took me four out of five years to get over you, did you know that? Now that I _am_ over you I will be damned if I let you push me around anymore. Choose right now Sasuke. We can stay friends and you can keep your insults to yourself, or you can walk out of my house right now and we won't be friends anymore."

Naruto looked at Sakura with utter shock, and Sasuke was hiding his eyes. Finally, after a few minutes of silent deliberation he looked up at Sakura and answered her with four words, "Thanks for the memories." He then walked out of her room.

Upon his departure Sakura fell to her knees and broke down into tears. Oh how she regretted her words. She should have just yelled at him, and left off the Ultimatum. He was one of her two best friends. All three of them had vowed to be friends forever, and she had just ruined it.

Naruto crawled over to her and held her as she cried against his chest. He couldn't believe Sasuke had chosen to leave. It wasn't what anyone was expecting, and it hurt. Obviously it hurt Sakura the most. She had been hear at least a day, and she just lost one of her best friends. They were no longer a trio.

"It'll be ok Sakura-Chan, he will come to his senses and realize he needs us just as much as we need him, you'll see." Naruto attempted to comfort his sobbing friend.

Sakura shook her head and, between sobs, said, "N-no, he w-won't N-narut-to. I w-went to f-far th-this time!" and she continued crying.

_'Oh Sakura-Chan, I wish I could help you somehow… wait… maybe I can.'_ Naruto thought, and then said, "I'll talk to Teme, alright Sakura. Try to Cheer up in the meantime, we don't want Pein seeing you so upset now do we?"

The pinkette had to agree that Naruto was correct, and, though he wasn't the brightest out of the three of them, he could always fix their friendship no matter who the argument was between. She slowed her crying and asked, "Could you bring me to Sasuke first? There is one thing I have to say."

Naruto nodded his consent and, with Sakura in tow, walked out of Sakura's room and downstairs. To both their surprise, Sasuke was sitting in Sakura's living room with a single tear marring his face. Sakura saw this, and she ran to Sasuke and hugged him.

"You're right Sasuke, maybe I'm not so different now then I was from then. I still need your friendship to function properly, I'm so sorry Sasuke-kun!" the Cherry-blossom cried into the Uchiha's chest.

Sasuke hesitantly hugged her back, and whispered, "Don't be sorry. I didn't leave your house. I couldn't bring myself to leave. We promised that we would all be best friends forever. What kind of person would I be for breaking that promise after twelve years?"

"Sasuke you bastard, if you weren't going to stop being her friend, than why the hell did you even leave her room! She was hysterically crying! The only reason she even came out here, and happened across you not actually gone, is because she had something to tell you! …oh, uh she has something she needs to say to you by the way…." Naruto lectured in the background.

The blue-haired teen looked at Sakura expectantly awaiting her response. To his amusement she blushed, but his amusement was replaced with the feeling of guilt after she said, "I said sorry before, because I had to touch you while I was riding on your motorcycle with you and I know how much you hate when I touch you."

She then let him out of her embrace, pulled away and said, "I'm sorry for hugging you too Sasuke."

Sakura then left the house before anything could be said.

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So the only sucky thing about writing this chapter was that I could feel what Sakura was feeling, and I nearly cried myself. It's mostly ok now though. Sorry for taking so long, I was running out of inspiration, which is not good this early in the morning. Oh, and in case you didn't catch it, Sasuke has a girlfriend right now. The question is, who? I know who, but you'll just have to keep reading to figure it out. Um review please. And Have a nice Holiday Season. xD


	7. Gorillaz

Mizuki-Chan Uchiha: I'm glad you're enjoying it, even after the drama that unfolded. No worries though, happy times will be back shortly. (Sasuke: They better be…/ Me: Sasuke, shut up. No one asked your opinion. / Sasuke: Hn…)

Raven Rose 101: And here is the update! Thanks for not giving up after such a long period of time between chapters ^-^

SectumSemprae: I know he should have been the one to apologize, but that would have been so…not Sasuke. Think, at least he told her she shouldn't be sorry. I think, in his way, that was pretty much an apology. She doesn't know he has a girlfriend quite yet either. Besides, he is still trying to deny he still has any feelings for our poor Sakura. I'm glad you like my story so much. I hope you don't get bored with my story anytime soon. (Sasuke: I'm not denying anything! / Me: So you admit you like her? / Sasuke: …No. /Me: See, denial.)

"_I ain't happy, I'm feeling glad. I've got sunshine in a bag. I'm useless, but not for long. The future is comin' on"_

_~Clint Eastwood~_

Gorillaz

The two boys were left staring at the empty space where Sakura was just a few seconds ago. Naruto was shocked at such a reaction from their pink haired friend, who never before would have cared about Sasuke's dislike of being touched. He was also shocked that she had thought it was only her that he hated being touched by. It definitely was not her alone. Sasuke had issues with being touched by anyone.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was battling between guilt and anger. He felt guilty because he made Sakura feel that her touch was unwelcome, and angry with her for thinking that in the first place. In the end the anger won out and he went after Sakura to confront her about her ludicrous assumption. In truth he enjoyed every time she hugged him. Hers was a more welcome touch than anyone else's. Not that he liked her. Oh no, not him. He simply valued their friendship. Was it his fault that she gave good hugs? He thought not.

The Uchiha caught sight of her walking towards the Sabaku residence, and for a moment questioned it until he remembered that she had become pretty good friends with Temari when they were young. The blonde was a little rough around the edges, and didn't like most people, but somehow Sakura had gotten into her good graces. Sasuke still had no clue as to how.

Sasuke shook his head to stop the thoughts, and started running to catch her before she reached Temari's front door. That girl was never very fond of him after all. That thought in mind, he ran as fast as he could to reach Sakura before she could even turn into the walk of that house.

He finally caught her, just in time. He had to grab her wrist to stop her from walking completely.

"Sakura, I have something to say to you!" Sasuke declared in a firm tone.

The pinkette slowly turned to face the blue-haired teen and asked in a shaky voice, "What is it?"

Sasuke took a deep breath to calm himself. It would do no good to yell at her. That would only get her to tune him out or possibly yell for Temari. Hell, she could even get Kankuro or Gaara, Temari's brothers, to come out if she really wanted to. Sasuke himself was a pretty strong guy, but not tough enough to beat those two in any type of engagement, and he wasn't dishonorable as to take on a girl…so Temari would win that one.

"What would make you think that I didn't like when you touched me Sakura? I never once told you to stop, and I have never pulled away." Sasuke finally inquired calmly.

Sakura hid her face and answered, "You never seemed to really enjoy it, you never hugged me back, and you always called me annoying."

Sasuke felt a pain in his heart at her countenance and felt awful about never returning her hugs when they were younger. There was one thing he had to clear up though. He certainly hoped she would understand after his explanation.

"Sakura, we're friends right, all three of us, you, me and Naruto." Sasuke questioned lightly.

The Cherry-Blossom nodded her head in response to his query.

"I still call Naruto a dobe, and he still calls me a Teme, but that doesn't mean we don't like each other. Sakura, I called you annoying, that much is true, but I still lo-"Sasuke cut his sentence off coughing a bit and then continued as if he hadn't been about to say loved, "_liked_ you. I still do like you. We will always be friends. I swear that I will never let anything or anyone get between our friendship, if you promise me the same."

Sakura, at a loss for words, just nodded and let the tears of happiness stream down her cheeks as she hugged the youngest Uchiha enthusiastically.

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Naruto was walking out f Sakura's house and saw two things on opposite ends of the street. The first, which made him spread his infamous lopsided grin, was Sakura and Sasuke, his two best buddies in the whole wide world, hugging each other. The second, which made his grin fade, and got him running his ass over to his two friends was Sasuke's girlfriend walking towards them. She was too far away to see the happenings, thank god, but Naruto still had to break up the hug lest another drama unfold.

The blonde reached them and quickly pulled the two apart, with protest from both sides. Sakura was verbally threatening his manhood, and Sasuke was giving him a glare that told Naruto he would have no problem helping Sakura fulfill her threat. Sasuke was about to open his mouth to speak his thoughts allowed, when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Who is Sakura? I went over to your house to see you, but your father said you were with Sakura. You aren't cheating on me are you?" the feminine voice of none other than Sasuke's girlfriend demanded.

The blue-haired teen turned away from Sakura's questioning look to face his irritated girlfriend. As he took in her appearance he couldn't help but compare her to his pinkette friend. Sakura's appearance was much more preferable to hers. While she dressed like a whore in her booty shorts and shirt that showed her stomach, Sakura simply wore ripped up skinny jeans and a more modest shirt, and when Sakura did wear booty shorts, she had legging on underneath. _'Why did I choose to date her again?'_ Sasuke questioned his judgment.

The Uchiha decided that a good amount of silence had passed and answered her question with one of his own," Do you really want to know who Sakura is?"

She nodded and Sasuke stepped aside, revealing the pink haired girl.

"I'm Sakura, and you are…?" Sakura introduced herself with a childish giggle.

"I'm Sasuke's girlfriend, Karin." Karin introduced herself a little warily.

"Well, I'm Sasuke's best friend!" the pinkette informed cheerfully.

Karin gave a questioning look to Sasuke who sighed and explained, "Naruto, Sakura, and I are all best friends. We have been since we were little. She just moved away for five years. She's back now though."

"Hey look, it's the whore of Babylon!" the group heard a male voice shout.

Sakura recognized the voice and instantly blushed. _'Wait…whose he talking about?'_ Sakura thought in question as her blush started to fade. Suddenly she was being hugged from behind, and when she turned to see who it was, she _didn't_ recognize him, but he was rather attractive in a girly sort of way. He had long blonde hair, put up in a half ponytail with his bangs covering one eye. The eye that she could see was the brightest blue she had ever seen. His eyes were even brighter than Naruto's, and that was saying something.

"Hey there pretty little lady, yeah." The blonde greeted with a predatory smile.

Before Sakura got the chance to respond, Pein was there scolding the blonde, "Don't hit on her Deidara, she's mine for now. I'm the one she's going on a date with tonight."

"Whatever Pein, she would so rather go on a date with me. It would be way more entertaining, yeah." Deidara bragged confidently.

"We'll see about that. I'll go on my date with her tonight, and you go on a date with her tomorrow. We'll see who she picks." Pein challenged with a smirk.

"Done, yeah" Deidara agreed.

"Wait, don't I get a say in this?" Sakura questioned incredulously.

"Sorry, where are my manners. I'm not usually as forceful as Pein, yeah. Would you like to go on a date with me tomorrow night?" Deidara asked liked the gentleman he rarely was but was raised to be.

Sakura blushed prettily and agreed.

Sasuke was watching all this as Karin sat glaring at Pein for calling her a whore. To say the youngest Uchiha was unhappy would be a major understatement. He was pissed beyond belief. When Sakura agreed to go on a date with Deidara, he stormed off, making up an excuse about getting black paint from his basement. Naruto knew he was lying, but let it go. Itachi was snickering to himself because his brother was way too obvious about liking the girl. _'And I know how to get him to finally admit it to her before it's too late…'_ Itachi thought with a mischievous smirk.

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That was a fun chapter to write. I figured you guys deserved a quick update after making you wait so long for the last one. Yeah, I know, Karin is ewww…but it's ok because it's not like Sasuke actually likes her. Even he thought the word whore when it came to her. Pein was just more verbal about it. Ah, I love Pein, which is why he is so bad ass. Actually Pein and Deidara are two of my three favorites of Akatsuki. The third one will be introduced later. First one to guess him right will win a prize! I'll write a oneshot for you or something. Any pairing, I promise. Anywhoo, review please ^-^


	8. Horror Pops

Tsuchiya-sama: Karin had to be alive because I needed a bad guy, and I refuse to make Itachi or Orochimaru those bad guys. I love the Akatsuki, and they shall all be good…kind of…in my story. Glad you liked Pein's comment though. (Pein: Shouldn't I be the one pleased about that? / Me: Shut up. I'm the one who put it in the script. You have no claims. / Pein: …. / Me: *smirks*)

StealthFire718: I'm glad you like it lolz Here's the update.

SectumSemprae: Glad you are enjoying my story. And scold Sasuke all you want, he needs it. (Sasuke: What's that supposed to mean? / Me: That you're a stuck up arrogant ass….I mean who said that? . / Sasuke: I hate you… / Me: I love you too! ^-^)

Kyo12591: No, it's not Hidan, but at least you tried which is more than I can say for everyone else, and Hidan is my fourth favorite so I'll let you be the winner of that one. And Pein is not too old for her. At least, not in my story ^-^ He is a senior, in high school of course.

Jamii: I am fully planning on finishing the story, but that doesn't just happen overnight. I am glad that you like it though. Your review was appreciated, thank you very much for your feedback ^-^

Madison Rose G.: I am aware I need to finish Madison, you really shouldn't be impatient. You, being my sister and all, get to hear chapters before most my readers, be happy with that lolz love ya sis.

"_So I did it again, I made a mistake. You're right, now are you satisfied?"_

_~Miss Take~_

Horror Pops

"I can't believe she is actually agreeing to go on a date with two guys that she just met today." Sasuke snarled to himself as he walked upstairs to his room so he could release his pent up aggression on the punching bag hanging from his ceiling.

"Well now, what are you muttering about Gay Sauce?" Sasuke heard the voice of yet another of Itachi's friends behind him.

He growled in annoyance and turned to glare at the newly arrived red-head.

"What the fuck are you doing up here Sasori? Itachi is _outside_, _not_ up here!" the blue haired teen gritted out.

Sasori just raised an eyebrow and responded, "Someone's a little on the angry side. Do you wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"

"No, now leave!" Sasuke shouted angrily at the red head.

"I get it, you got drunk last night and when you woke up you ended up finding out that you brought a girl home instead of a guy like you wanted. It's okay, happens to me sometimes, only I'm glad it's a girl and not a guy because I didn't want a guy in the first place." Sasori smirked.

"I'm not gay. I even have a girlfriend to prove it."

Sasori looked out the window and asked, "Which one? Pink or red?"

"Red…" Sasuke sighed.

"_That_ walking STD is your girlfriend?" the red head questioned with a look of horror and a shiver of disgust.

There was no answer as Sasuke regretted even having this conversation with Sasori. He then saw Sasori start opening the window and asked, "What are you doing?"

Sasori smirked as the window was completely open and said, "I'm gonna go put the moves on the hot pink haired chick. See ya Uchiha." He then jumped out the window and landed expertly.

Sasuke watched with a mixture of exasperation and anger as Sasori made his way over to Sakura. _'I really need my punching bag now…'_ he thought to himself, and then finished his journey to his room to beat the crap out of his poor inanimate punching bag.

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Sakura was both entertained and uncomfortable with her situation. She was entertained because two really hot guys had asked her on a date the first day they had met her, but she was uncomfortable because they had turned this into a competition. It was disconcerting to be honest. Being around Karin was rather awkward as well.

Karin kept switching who she was glaring at. It kept going back and forth between Sakura and Pein. _'Stupid bastard, I'm not a whore damn him! He made me look bad in front of Sasuke!'_ Karin thought about Pein, and then looked at Sakura and thought, _'I can't believe she got two members of the Akatsuki to like her already! Possibly even three if Itachi's look is anything to go by! Well, she better not try to steal my Sasuke!'_

_'I have no idea what she's thinking, but I bet it's not nice…'_ Sakura thought. Her thoughts were interrupted though by a new voice. She glanced over to where it was coming from and Saw a red head with coppery eyes walking up to her, and he was hot too!

"Hello there, what might your name be my dear?" the red headed hottie asked politely.

Sakura blushed and said, "Sakura Haruno."

"Sakura, what a beautiful name. I'm Sasori, nice to meet you." Sasori introduced and then raised her hand to his mouth and kissed it, making Sakura blush even darker.

"What's the big deal Sasori? We have a bet going on; you aren't allowed to endanger our bet, yeah." Deidara stated with annoyance.

This piqued Sasori's interest and he asked, "What exactly is your bet?"

"We are each taking Sakura on a date, and she will decide who was better." Pein explained simply.

"I want in on this too." The red head grinned.

"Ask her then. You're only in if she allows it, yeah." Deidara replied nonchalantly to his request.

"May I take you on a date my dear Sakura?" Sasori inquired with more formality than any of his friends knew he contained.

Sakura nodded and then said, "Tuesday, after school at any time."

"Yes my lady." Sasori smiled.

Itachi was watching all this with amusement and worry. He couldn't help be amused, his friends were…well…them. They always amused him even though he rarely showed it. He was worried about all these dates Sakura already had planned though. She would have no time to spend with his brother or himself for that matter. Especially now that Sasori had been added as well. Sasori could be a pretty charming fellow when he wanted to be.

Karin was even more pissed off then before. Not only did Itachi, Pein, and Deidara very obviously like this girl, now Sasori did as well. She prayed that Sasuke wouldn't fall prey to the girls charm as well. _'And Suigetsu…'_ Karin thought with a worried expression plastered to her face. She didn't want him to fall for this Sakura girl either. With those thoughts in place she made her way to Sasuke's room first.

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Sasuke had the song "Photographs and Gasoline" by Framing Hanley blasting as he sang along with it and punched his abused punching bag.

_No use taking off your clothes_

_We won't be goin there tonight_

_You were kind enough to say hello_

_I figured I could at least say goodbye the way_

_I was thinking about telling you that I was in love with her_

_I'm still in love with her…_

_Now Oh_

_Look at this web I wove…_

The blue haired teen punched and punched. He let all his anger and confusion out and started leaving marks of blood on the punching bag. He hadn't put on his gloves, or even wrapped his knuckles up. He just got straight to letting his aggression out right when he walked into his room. He was pissed, but he wasn't sure why exactly. Or he didn't want to admit to why at least.

_'I have no right to care. We are friends and nothing more. We will never be more…'_ Sasuke tried to tell himself. It was working, kind of. He hoped it worked enough that he would be able to tolerate seeing his friend with other guys.

_So take this photograph_

_And I'll take this empty frame_

_I won't be comin back_

_You're not the one to blame_

_The chemistry between_

_Liars like you and me_

_Ignites like gasoline…_

Sasuke wished that he hadn't ever had that conversation with Sasori. He also slightly wished Sasori be fatally injured by a semi truck wile going to hit on Sakura, but the Uchiha knew that wouldn't happen. They didn't live on any main street, it was just a little side avenue. The most he could hope was that Sakura's uncle came to visit and ran Sasori's sorry ass over with his monster truck.

The blue haired teen was tired of punching his bag and finally noticed he was bleeding, so he stopped his actions and walked over to his desk to get his first aid kit out. He merely needed to clean them, it's not like anyone was here to force bandages on him anyways.

_Wait  
Wait_

_Wait_

_Let me set the record straight_

_I was never really yours in the first place_

_And oh…_

_Look at this web I wove_

_I told you I would break your heart!_

Sasuke heard his door open and turned to see his whore…er, I mean his girlfriend… walk in. _'Well, so much for not bandaging them…'_ Sasuke thought with annoyance.

"What are you doing up here Karin?" the blue haired boy asked with irritation evident in his voice after turning his music off.

"You love me right?" Karin asked seriously.

Sasuke gave her a blank look and then questioned, "Do you want me to lie to you or something?"

Karin's face fell and she muttered, "So you lied to me last week then?"

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke looked at her like she was fucked in the head.

"When you and I were having sex, you told me you loved me Sasuke!" Karin shouted.

Sasuke blanched and said, "We have _never_ had sex Karin! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Yes we," she started and the cut herself off thinking _'Wait…that was Suigetsu…shit.'_ And then continued, "Oh, never mind; that was just one of my dreams. Sorry Sasuke."

Karin then departed saying that she needed to get home and help her mother start on dinner. Sasuke just watched her go. He was kind of disturbed that she had dreams like that about him.

"So, your girl has fantasies about you?" the voice of one of Itachi's friends asked with laughter.

"Shove it Hidan, at least I have a girlfriend unlike someone whose name starts with an H and ends with an I-D-A-N." Sasuke countered.

"I don't know kid; I'm considering making that pink haired hottie out there my girl. I haven't talked to her yet though. Too many of the guys around to really get a word in." Hidan informed.

Sasuke suddenly had the urge to punch something again…

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Any spelling errors, I am sorry. I wrote all this in one sitting. That's not normal for me. Anywhoo, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Reviews are _very_ welcome. ^-^


	9. Inhale Exhale

Fearless-Sparrow: I am not sure if you're being sarcastic or if you're serious, the dots make it hard to tell. Either way, I appreciate your review ^-^

ILoveSxS: She sure has lolz, nice to see someone being so enthusiastic about it

Akatsuki Sakura Uchiha: Here is the next chapter, now you don't have to wait for it anymore…just the other 17 chapters. .

BrazilianCherryBlossom: Thank you :D

Tsuchiya-sama: Sasori no Danna wasn't necessarily out to piss her off, he was stating a fact. The others are doing it to piss her off, and because it's true ^-^ I'm glad you like my story so far, thank you for your review

"_I swear I've done this before. Oh so familiar is this mess that I'm in. I once knew. Now memories escape, and people meet their fate…"_

_~Did You Ever Have a Touch to Lose? ~_

Inhale Exhale

When the guys were finally done flirting with Sakura, Pein asked, "What did you need us for anyways?"

"Uh," Sakura was at a loss so finally admitted, "I don't remember."

"It was to help Sakura-Chan re-decorate her room! It's still all girly because she was five the last time it got decorated." Naruto piped in with a huge grin on his face.

"You don't have to. Sasuke just suggested that I try to get you guys to help because it would go a lot faster." Sakura said hurriedly when she saw the look of horror cross their faces.

They all gave each other a look that screamed "we-are-helping-a-_girl -decorate her-_room_?"_ Itachi decided to ask the dreaded question that was floating around in all the Akatsuki's minds at that moment, "What do you want it to look like?"

Sakura smiled and replied, "I don't really care as long as everything matches the walls after they're painted."

"And pray tell, what is the wall supposed to look like yeah?" Deidara asked with slight suspicion."

"It's supposed to be black with a bunch of neon paint splatters, of all colors, on the wall." The cherry blossom answered seriously.

One by one all the males surrounding the pinkette smiled and thought _'This is going to be fun as hell!'_

"We'll do it!" Pein remarked with a smile adorning his face.

"Cool, I'll go get Sasuke." Sakura beamed at the group and then ran to go find the youngest Uchiha.

As she left, a male with slicked back silver hair and purple eyes walked up to the group and started to ask questions about our favorite pinkette.

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Sakura entered the Uchiha residence and stopped when she heard the backdoor in the kitchen open. Assuming it was Sasuke she ran over just in time to see long red hair exit. Assuming that Sasuke's girlfriend was going to lead her to Sasuke himself, the pinkette began following the red head.

Sakura looked on in question as she saw Karin hop the fence and head into the house of the Uchiha's neighbor's. _'I don't think Sasuke is over there though, is he?'_ She decided to check his room before going over to the house of a person she didn't know; not that she hadn't done that before, in the illegal sense, but that was a different story.

The cherry blossom then left the kitchen area and ran up to Sasuke's room. _'Yep, he's here. I hear his music, and that's a damn good song.'_ Sakura thought as she let herself into the blue haired teen's room without knocking because she realized he wouldn't hear her anyhow. When she entered, she realized he must have been pissed about something. Remembering the retreating form of his girlfriend, she guessed it was an argument between them or something along those lines.

Being the good friend she was; she was going to see if he wanted to talk about it. _'After this song is over.'_

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_A withered past and a blurry future_

_My heart's on an auction_

_And it goes out to the highest bid_

Sasuke had yet to notice Sakura enter his room, sit on his bed, and listen to the lyrics, lip singing them actually, as she bobbed her head to the beat. He was still thinking on all the bastards who had been flirting with her. And then there was that random thought that came through his head. _'What is with those guys and jumping out windows?'_ The youngest Uchiha shook that thought away, because he knew he would never understand them.

_I live too fast, and I know I will lose her_

_But there is an option_

_To die is to live in her head_

Sakura was greatly enjoying the music and was amused that Sasuke hadn't noticed her yet. It also saddened her somewhat, because that meant he was really upset. She couldn't think it was normal anymore; the past couple days he had paid complete attention to her no matter what. _'Wait, what am I thinking? He hasn't seen me in five years; of course he's going to pay attention to me.' _Sakura mused to herself.

_So I'll hang on_

_Never let go_

_I dug this pain into my chest, it's dead_

Sakura couldn't help but sing the chorus. It was like she had to. Especially since it was the main song that she sang in the local band she had been in before moving back. "One last chance to reverse this curse. You stole my heart, but I had it first. And now I see you've got something to prove and nothing to lose, so let me tell you the truth…"

Sasuke finally noticed her as she began singing and was shocked. He almost fell over, but caught himself on his punching bag. He turned off the music and stared at her with wide eyes and finally choked out, "When did you get in here?"

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura whined, "Why did you turn it off?"

"Stop worrying about the music and answer my question Sakura." Sasuke sighed in frustration.

Sakura pouted and finally answered, "When Ronnie Radke started singing the song."

"Alright, why were you in my room in the first place?" the blue haired teen questioned.

"Decorating of course. You're helping remember? Oh, and you said something about paint when you left. It looks more to me like you were punching that poor inanimate punching bag that's never done anything to you." Sakura answered.

Sasuke sweat dropped and began to walk downstairs without a word. The pinkette scrambled off his bed and then looked back at the stereo longingly before finally leaving the youngest Uchiha's room and following him downstairs. Sasuke led her to the basement into a little room that was completely lined with paint. Some paint even hung on the freaking ceiling!

"Choose your poison." Sasuke muttered before turning to look at her.

He almost laughed at the expression on her face. It reminded him of a fish out of water.

"Oh my fucking Jesus." The cherry blossom uttered before walking around to find the right colors.

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"Why the hell are you asking us so many questions Hidan?" Sasori glared at the silver haired teen.

"'Cause I wanna know about her, obviously." Hidan answered with a sneer.

"We know next to nothing about her. Itachi has known her for awhile but he spent no time with her back then. Your best bet would be Naruto," Pein pointed towards the blonde mentioned, "and Sasuke."

"You're shittin' me! Emo boy knows her real well? Fuck, I was just up talkin' with him too! Damn it all to hell!" Hidan cursed.

"Hey guys, we're ready!"

All heads turned as they heard a feminine voice calling to them. Hidan grimaced, remembering the others had told him they were helping her redecorate. _'Suigetsu should be tortured too. I'll have the emo fag go get him for me.'_

"Hey, Chicken's ass! Go get Suigetsu to help us alright?" the silver-haired teen asked rudely, but nice compared to his normal names for the boy.

Sasuke was about to refuse when Sakura said, "I'll go with you Sasuke-kun! I wanna meet new people!"

Not one to disappoint the pinkette, Sasuke agreed and walked to get his neighbor. _'I'll be surprised if that lazy bastard is even awake.'_ The blue haired teen thought with a roll of his eyes. He entered the house without knocking and headed for Suigetsu's room. He then changed his mind and went to the kitchen first. _'May as well eat his tomatoes while I'm here. He always has them. I can't believe father didn't know we ran out.'_

Sakura's eyes widened as they entered the house that she had seen Sasuke's girlfriend walk into earlier that day. The pinkette was confused now, so she just let the issue drop out of her mind for now. _'Why the hell is Sasuke eating this dude's tomatoes?'_

"Sasuke-kun, why are you eating Suigetsu's tomatoes? I mean, I know they're your favorite and all, but don't you have those at your house?" Sakura finally questioned after five minutes of silence.

The Uchiha glanced up at her and replied, "No, dad didn't realize we had run out."

"Why didn't you tell me that? We have some at my house you could have." Sakura laughed.

Sasuke stood up and said, "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Alright, let's get Suigetsu's lazy ass down here so he can get his yearly exercise."

The pinkette giggled and followed Sasuke up the stairs and down the hell to a door with caution tape all over it. The pair heard muffled moans on the other side, They hadn't even opened the door yet, and Sakura had already stopped smiling.

"Damn Suigetsu and his daily sluts." The blue haired teen muttered to himself.

The pinkette finally realized that she hadn't told Sasuke what she had been so confused about earlier. She was torn on whether to stop him from opening the door or to let him. _'I can tell him about what I saw earlier when we leave. He doesn't have to see what's behind the door. He can make his own assumptions after that; I just don't want him hurt if my guess is correct.'_

Mind made up, she reached to stop him from opening the door, but she had been just a little bit too late.

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I am aware I'm not that detailed, but this story is not really about detail. It's just about friendship, love, and a bit of drama. If you want all that and the detail too then you can read my newest story ok? Just don't expect it out of this one.

Anywhoo, I appreciate all of you readers, and I suggest listening to all the music I put in the chapters because they are good songs.

Read and review please ^-^


	10. Juliana Theory

Pinkypinkypinky: I'm not going to lie; I couldn't wait to write this chapter because of Sasuke busting Karin in the act. ^-^

Akatsuki Sakura Uchiha: Oh dear, I hope you didn't die because of me I would feel awful. Thanks for your review ^-^

Tsuchiya-sama: Ya know, your prediction was pretty damn close lolz but remember, he still has to deal with Suigetsu ^-^

SectumSemprae: Honestly, this chapter is a mix of the expected and unexpected in a way. Sakura is a very smart girl, so I am portraying her that way. I hate it when people make her oblivious in a situation that she wouldn't really be oblivious in. I like Suigetsu, I hate making him a "bad" guy in this story Anywhoo, thanks for the feedback ^-^

MakesStoriesDontReadDem: Glad you like the story, and I am aware Karin is a bitch. I purposefully portrayed her that way ^-^ Thanks for your review

"_There's a part of me that dies when you turn away your eyes. I'm alive, but not inside."_

_~This is a Love Song…For the Loveless~_

Juliana Theory

"S-Sasuke-Kun, it's not what it looks like I swear!" the startled voice of none other than Sasuke's girlfriend alleged.

"Not what I think it is? I think you're fucking my third best friend. That's what I think it is." Sasuke calmly told the whore- er I mean red-head.

"Well then it is what you think you loveable bastard." A voice, that Sakura didn't recognize, said in a laughing manner. It was coming from a pale and thin teenage boy with silver hair to his chin and lavender eyes; his teeth, which the pinkette caught a glimpse of when he smiled at the raven haired boy, reminded her of shark teeth.

"You think this is funny Suigetsu?" Sasuke questioned with a raise of one eyebrow.

"Come on Sasuke, it's not like you have a right to be mad. She told me you guys broke up, again." The silver haired teen, Suigetsu, explained.

Sasuke gave Suigetsu an incredulous look before saying, "We only broke up once, and that was a few days before my birthday. She was upset when I received a gift in the mail from Sakura. Karin and I are currently still dating; well, we _were_ anyways."

"Sasuke-Kun, please don't break up with me. I don't want to lose you!" the red head pleaded through her freshly shed tears.

"Shit Sasuke, if I had known that then I wouldn't have-" Suigetsu got cut off by Sasuke saying, "Yes you would have." There was a slight smile in his tone.

"Alright, so I would have; I would have told you ahead of time first though. You're one of my best friends; I don't want you with a cheating whore." Th pale teen admitted while rubbing the back of his head.

"That one I believe. Anyways, we need your help over at Sakura's house." The blue haired teen said with a slight grin.

"Wait, you mean she's here? I have wanted to meet her since I heard you and Naruto go on and on about her!" Suigetsu exclaimed.

With that statement, Sasuke pulled Sakura in front of him and said, "Well here she is."

After about five minutes of the silver haired teen getting to know the pinkette, they all left. Suigetsu was a little behind because he needed to put some pants on.

"Sasuke-Kun," Karin called his name, and he stopped to listen to what she had to say.

"You're not really breaking up with me, are you?" the red head asked in a trembling voice.

"Ya know what Karin? I am breaking up with you, but I hope it makes you feel better about it once I tell you this; the whole time we were dating, I pretended you were someone else." Sasuke said coldly before continuing his descent, Sakura in tow and Suigetsu catching up behind them.

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Everyone was gathered at Sakura's house after all the boys lugged the paint up. While they were doing that, Sakura took it upon herself to cover all the furniture with her old pink sheets and ripping down her old posters, discarding of their remains. Now that everyone was there, they all grabbed a paintbrush and started painting all the walls a pure black. They couldn't wait to get to the fun part of this project.

After a few hours of painting, they were all finally done with the black and left to go eat lunch and take a break. Naruto suggested Ramen, as usual, but the only one that agreed with his decision was Deidara. Pizza was agreed upon by everyone once Pein suggested it. The two blondes of the group insisted upon having some Ramen with their pizza.

"Hey, let's turn on some tunes." Hidan suggested with smirk.

Everyone agreed and, without further ado, Sakura put in her Saving Abel CD and turned it to song number two. Naruto complained when he was told she wasn't playing "Sailed Away", but took his words back when he heard the song start.

_I'm so addicted to_

_All the things you do when you're going down on me_

_In between the sheets_

_All the sounds you make_

_With every breath you take_

_It's unlike anything when you're loving me_

"Come on Sasuke-Kun, dance with me!" the pinkette requested with a laugh as she grabbed the blue haired teen's hand and pulled him into her.

"Sakura, I don't dance." Sasuke whispered and averted his eyes.

The Cherry Blossom leaned in closer to Sasuke and whispered, right next to his ear, "You do now."

Suppressing a blush, the youngest Uchiha gave in to Sakura's request of him. _'More like demand.'_ He thought.

_Oooh girl, let's take it slow_

_So as for you_

_Well you know where to go_

_I wanna take my love_

_And hate you 'til the end_

"I call dancing next!" Naruto exclaimed with a grin.

Sasuke glared at his hyperactive blonde companion and muttered under his breath, "He actually thinks I'm going to let him take over for me? She's mine."

Sakura smirked with amusement because she heard Sasuke's little slip. She would pretend she hadn't though. In her opinion, it was time for him to be put through what she was put through five years ago. Though, if she thought about it, what he will be going through is worse.

_It's not like you to turn away_

_From all the bullshit I can't take_

_It's not like me to walk away_

_'Maybe I'm over thinking this. We're best friends and he hasn't seen me in forever. And if it bothered him that I was going on dates with guys he would have said something by now.'_ Sakura thought, completely disregarding the fact that he said something that showed of his obvious disapproval when she brought up Pein earlier.

"Sakura-Chan, dance with me to "Sailed Away", come on!" Naruto whined over the music.

With a sigh, the pinkette gave in and switched it to song seven. Naruto jumped for joy and pushed Sasuke out of his way with a mutter of, " bastard" before starting to dance to the music; slow to begin with.

_Does it hurt to hear me say_

_That I never really meant to stay_

_I left you right where I want you_

_Now there's nothing left_

_And not a reason_

_There's nothing left to believe in_

_When just one remains_

_I've sailed away_

"Why did you want this song to be played?" Sakura asked with an incredulous look.

Naruto acted like he was innocent and replied with a guilty, "No reason."

Sasuke walked up to the two and answered for Naruto, "When this song first came out, it reminded Naruto and I of you and the day you left. It's how we felt at the time. You're back now though, so it's irrelevant."

_Such a foolish game that we have been playing_

_Now you've got me right where you want me_

_I left you in the right_

_But you wouldn't let me take the fall_

_Now you've got me right where you want me_

"Actually, the song was mostly relevant to," Naruto started, but was cut off by a hand covering his mouth and Sasuke's glare. _'She'll figure it out eventually Sasuke. With or without me telling her; it doesn't matter.'_ The blonde thought with sad eyes staring straight into angry ones. The blue haired teen had to look away from the sympathy in his friend's face. He couldn't take it.

_Now there's nothing left_

_And that's the reason_

_There's not much left to believe in_

_If it's all just the same_

_I'll sail away_

_You pushed so hard_

_You have to know that you might just get what you wanted_

_And when just one remains_

_I've sailed away_

"Let's just go eat and finish the walls of Sakura's room." Sasuke had all but shut off all emotion.  
Sakura wasn't sure what to say. She had no idea what had just happened, but she knew something was wrong with one of her best friends. She shut the music off and went to join the others for lunch. _'What's wrong Sasuke-Kun?'_ kept echoing through the girl's head.

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Okay, so I cut this chapter a bit short, but I hope you liked it. I have to say that you guys really amuse me. A lot of your reviews I read over and over again because they make me laugh. I love when you give me your opinion on everything. If I have a bad day or something, your feedback really does make me feel a bit better. I thank you. Oh, and I had writers block for awhile which is why this chapter came out so late. Anyways, Feedback is always appreciated. Oh and sorry for any mistakes.


	11. Killers

Akatsuki Sakura Uchiha: Oh. I'm glad you didn't die, I feel much better now ^-^ I'm happy you liked the chapter, and the music. It's great to know that my taste in music is shared with a reader.

"_Jealousy; turning saints into the sea. Swimming through sick lullabies; choking on your alibis."_

_~Mr. Brightside~_

Killers

Sakura excused herself to go check to see if the paint in her room had dried yet. It hadn't, and she had a feeling it wouldn't be completely dry until tomorrow. _'Damn it, now I have to go tell the guys and then get ready for my date with Pein.'_ The pinkette thought with irritation. It wasn't so much what she had to do that irritated her. She was just upset she didn't get to splatter neon paint all over the walls and everyone else today.

When the cherry blossom entered her living room she laughed at the scene before her. Naruto and Suigetsu were dancing suggestively with each other to the song "Gay Bar" by Electric Six. Apparently Naruto had put in his own CD while Sakura had been upstairs checking on the paint's status. She wasn't sure whether to laugh and take pictures as blackmail for later use, or to turn and head back upstairs to save herself from being more mentally scarred then she had already been.

In the end she ran upstairs to her backpack so she could grab her digital camera; she then ran back downstairs and took some incriminating photos, discreetly of course. Everyone else in the room, besides the two messing around, noticed but weren't about to say anything.

"Does that thing have video on it to, un?" Sakura heard Deidara whisper right next to her ear.

"Yeah, don't worry, I'm on it." The pinkette assured with a sly smile aimed in the blonde's direction.

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Sasuke looked over in the cherry blossom's direction and had to suppress a smile that threatened to be known when he saw her laughing quietly at the two idiots dancing. Normally the blue haired teen would have stopped the two from dancing by now, but he couldn't bring himself to be the cause of Sakura's amusement's end. It was even better when he noticed she was taking pictures. Now all he needed to do was kick Deidara's ass for being that close to the pinkette. Unfortunately Sasuke knew that Sakura wouldn't appreciate that. There were other ways to get Sakura's attention to stray from the blonde though.

Sasuke walked over to Sakura's side and whispered, "Boo."

"Sasuke, what's up?" the cherry blossom asked with a roll of her eyes and a small laugh.

_'Getting her attention off him was way easier than I thought it would be.'_ The youngest Uchiha thought with awe before responding, "Is the paint dry?"

"Oh shit, I forgot." Sakura cursed before walking over to turn the ridiculous song off, which stopped Naruto and Suigetsu's dance.

"Alright, before you two start whining," Sakura began with a glare in the direction of the previous dancing partners, "the paint is not dry so we can all just crash here. I'm pretty sure dad won't mind."

"I'm down with that, but our date is still on right?" Pein questioned.

"Most definitely; I'll go take a shower to wash all this paint off. You can take a shower in my dad's bathroom down here." The pinkette informed Pein as she walked up the stairs and disappeared before Pein was able to make his perverted comment that she just knew was coming.

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_'Alright, what to wear… shit I don't know. I'll go ask Sasuke.'_ Sakura thought after she had gotten out of the shower and into her room. She dried off completely, including her hair, wrapped her Stone Cold Steve Austin towel around her body, and ran downstairs to get Sasuke. When the guys saw her they whistled appreciatively and she flipped them all of; lovingly of course.

"Sasuke get your happy ass up to my room. I need your help." The pinkette growled out before running back upstairs to her room.

_'Okay then…'_ the blue haired teen thought nervously as he made his way to the girl's room.

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Sasuke slowly entered the cherry blossom's room, anticipating an attack of some sort. What he wasn't expecting were the words that came out of her mouth.

"I need you to help me pick out what to wear tonight." Aforementioned girl demanded.

Was she crazy? She wanted _him_ to pick out clothes to impress _Pein_? Grudgingly he admitted to himself that he would do it because it was Sakura after all. With a sigh, he began to help her pick out a few different outfits to try.

"Alright, now for you to judge how they look on me." Sakura said, and then dropped her towel right in front of him in order to change.

_'Why god? Why would you show me something that I will never have?'_ Sasuke wanted to cry with frustration.

"What do you think of this one Sasuke-Kun?" Sakura's innocent voice startled the Uchiha from his thoughts.

She was wearing a red plaid Tripp dress with black lace on the skirt and in little designs up the corset top. Sakura was wearing black booty shorts underneath that he knew you could see when she bent over because of how short the dress was. The dress originally came with Spaghetti straps, but they were removable so she had removed them. On her feet were her black lace up combat boots that came up just below her knee.

"Sasuke-Kun, stop staring and tell me your honest opinion." The cherry blossom snapped him out of his trance.

"It's," the blue haired teen paused to cough, "absolutely gorgeous. You look great Sakura, really."

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In the end Sakura refused to try on the other outfits because it would take too long. Sasuke went back downstairs to join the guys. Right when the guys started harassing the youngest Uchiha for details, Sakura peeked around the corned and asked for Deidara next.

As it turned out she needed help with putting temporary black streaks in her hair. As Deidara was helping her with that, she busied herself with applying black eye shadow, red eyeliner, and red mascara. To finish up she put clear lip-gloss on and called it good.

Deidara had finally finished up with her hair, and presented her to the rest of the room. The cherry blossom got compliments from everyone; Pein had yet to appear from her dad's bathroom. When he finally emerged from the abyss known as her father's bathroom, Sakura wondered what she had done in her life to warrant such good fortune. He was hotter than Kenneth Nixon; in her opinion; and that's a lot of hotness right there.

Pein had on a black button up dress shirt with the top three buttons undone, which showed a white wife beater underneath. His white skinny jeans had a black chain hanging down on his left side, and if you looked closer you could see that the chain was connected to a wallet in his back pocket. Pein had one black fingerless glove on his right hand, and a black leather wristband with spikes all around it on his left. His hair had been put up into messy spikes, and eyeliner had been applied. To finish off his look, he wore black combat boots just like Sakura; his just went an inch and a half above his ankle instead of all the way up to his knee.

"Alright, let's get this party started." Pein said with a wink in Sakura's direction and then let out an appreciative whistle when he saw her outfit.

Sakura's response was to blush and give the ginger a halfhearted glare before commenting on his outfit.

"You look pretty good yourself, but don't ever whistle at me again."

She could tell Pein was about to do it again, just to be an ass, so she quickly threatened, "If you do our date ends right here and now and I'll hang out with Sasuke instead."

Sasuke was secretly hoping Pein had such a big ego that he wouldn't take Sakura's threat seriously, but, to his chagrin, Pein shut his mouth and the pair left to go out on their date.

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Alright, I know it's short but I'm taking on a challenge at the moment. I can't have anything to do with anime in any way shape or form for a week starting tomorrow, so I decided instead of waiting a week to even be able to write the other half, I would just post up what I have for your viewing pleasure.

Oh, and you guys I would really appreciate reviews. Less reviews means that apparently the story isn't liked too much and if the story is something you don't actually like reading than I'm just going to delete it. Soooo, if you want me to finish the story than I need reviews! XD

Oh and if you read "Behind the Masks", that's not being updated because I haven't written like any of the next chapter, and that story has never had chapters shorter than 4000 words before (Minus the last one which was short by a couple hundred words), and I don't plan on changing that anytime soon.


	12. Last Days of April

MyLifeInWhole: Thank you, I hope you liked the chapter

Blood Scarlet Dark: I'm very glad you liked my story. The no anime thing was like torture; I almost died, I swear. Thank you for your encouragement though.

Stararia: Here's your update

MakesStoriesDontReadDem: Thank you very much; glad you like it

UR NO.1 FAN: I like the energy you put into your review. Sasuke appreciates your confidence (though the others are a bit irritated about it) and I may look that story up. Thank you very much

PeopleCallMeCrazyAndIAgree: I have now updated so now your death won't be on my conscience. Glad you're enjoying the story

"_I cam so close this time. So close; to find what it once gave to me."_

_~Angel Youth~_

Last Days of April

The date had gone horribly wrong. Pein had chosen a chick flick, thinking that Sakura would be thankful that he had thought of her. Instead she was pissed off because, in her opinion, that was the worst type of movie ever created. To make things worse, the boy attempted to pay for the Cherry blossom's ticket, food, drink, popcorn, and candy. Now most girls would appreciate that, but Sakura hated it when someone tried to pay for her; especially without getting her consent first.

The pinkette abruptly stood up halfway through the movie, told Pein she was leaving, and walked out of the theatre. When Pein finally realized she was serious he ran after her to figure out what her problem was.

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About an hour and a half after Sakura had left with Pein for their date, Sasuke's cell phone went off, playing the ringtone "Back to Go Again" by Framing Hanley. _'That's Sakura's ringtone. Why would she be calling me in the middle of her date?'_ Sasuke thought, and then his eyes darkened, "He better not have hurt her. That asshole will be begging me for death long before I give it to him!"

With that, the youngest Uchiha answered his cell phone with, "Sakura, what happened?"

"Hey Sasuke; can you come pick me up? I'm just outside the theat-"Sakura cut her sentence off and could be heard saying, "God damn it Pein I already told you I'm leaving." Slight pause and then, "I am aware you don't know why I left which just shows that I shouldn't have agreed to go on a date with you in the first place."

"Sakura are you okay?" Sasuke hesitantly asked.

"Me? Oh yeah I'm good. The date was awful and I just would rather not even finish. So as I was saying, can you come get me? We took Pein's car here." Sakura rushed, trying to ease the blue haired teen's worries.

"Oh," Sasuke smirked and then continued, "no problem Sakura. I'll be there in two minutes."

The call ended and Sasuke rushed out of the Haruno residence, leaving six very confused teenage boys behind.

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"Can't we talk this over Sakura? Please, I just want to know what I did wrong." Pein was practically begging the pinkette to answer him.

With a sigh the Cherry blossom gave in; saying, "The only thing that wasn't a disaster are our outfits. I hate Chick flicks, I hate people trying to pay for my tickets, and I hate when people try to buy my food, popcorn, and candy."

Before the teen could say anything in response to Sakura's information, the youngest Uchiha showed up on his motorcycle to retrieve the pinkette. With a smile and a dismissive wave, Sakura hopped on the bike and the two sped off.

"Well, there goes my shots of winning that damn bet." Pein grumbled in annoyance as he headed towards his car.

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An annoyed punk rocker walked into the Haruno residence and was greeted by six teenage boys who, as you can probably guess, were still confused as hell. Unfortunately for them, Pein was confused as well once he spotted an absence of blue and pink so he was in no condition to answer their thousands of questions.

At long last, the orange haired teen was able to choke out, "Where's Sakura and Sasuke?"

"That is what we have all been asking you for the past five minutes!" Naruto shouted and then started to panic.

"They should have been back by now. They left like twenty minutes ago." Pein whispered, not helping Naruto's Panicked state at all.

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"Why are we here Sasuke?" the pinkette asked softly as the two were lying under the Sakura Tree where they first met years ago.

"You remember when we met, Sakura?" the Uchiha asked quietly and then turned his head slightly to his left so he could see her.

Sakura nodded with a small smile playing on her lips. She definitely remembered. That was one memory that the cherry blossom knew she would never forget.

_Unlike what most people guessed; she wasn't being picked on, she had friends already, and she wasn't sad about anything. She was simply sitting under her favorite tree creating a little pile of pink petals._

_In actuality, the one who had been upset that day was Sasuke. He had been sitting a few trees away; which wasn't unusual because a lot of people seemed to like sitting in that general area. Sakura never paid the other children any mind, not even if they were her friends. The youngest Uchiha had been crying though and the pinkette had a strong urge to go make him feel better. So she did._

"That was a long time ago Sasuke." The cherry blossom managed to say.

"Twelve years today, I know. You were the one thing that made the anniversary of my mother's death bearable because now it's the anniversary of our friendship as well." The blue haired teen confessed.

At a loss for what to say, and rather shocked that the Uchiha was able to admit that to her out loud, Sakura kept quiet and tried to stare as little as possible. It was strange for her to hear the teen talk about his feelings openly like he just did. Something had to be bothering him for it to happen now.

The pinkette had decided upon confronting Sasuke about it; asking him what was on his mind. Actually gaining the courage to carry out that act was easier said than done though and Sakura was worried that if she pushed it he would shut down all emotions for awhile. _'I guess I should reevaluate my decision. I'll just let it alone; it's not like being open about how he feels is a bad thing anyways.'_ She thought.

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Seven heads looked up at the sound of the front door opening, but sighed in disappointment when they saw a middle aged man with pale pink hair walk in. In turn, the man blatantly stared at all the guys in his house. After a minute of awkward silence between the opposing sides of the room, the pale haired man coughed and asked, "Who are you and why are you in my house?"

"We are Sakura's friends, yeah." Deidara answered casually, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Ahh, so my daughter invited you over. That explains it." Then looking around Moigi asked, "Where is she by the way?"

"We don't fucking know. Emo bastard has her right now. We have no clue where either of them fucking went!" Hidan exclaimed dramatically.

Noticing the look of confusion on Mr. Haruno's face, Itachi decided to take it upon himself to help the man understand, so he looked Moigi straight in the eyes and said, "Emo bastard, as Hidan so delicately put, is my little brother Sasuke."

A flash of understanding was in Moigi's eyes as he responded, "Oh I get it now. Well, Sasuke has always been a good kid. I bet they will be back pretty soon."

None of the boys were so convinced that "soon" was the appropriate word, but they didn't argue with the man.

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The two who were currently MIA had decided that they were going to ride around downtown and have some fun because, as Sakura put it, "the night is still young." The blue haired teen didn't argue with her. He was just happy that she chose to be spending all this extra time with him instead of any of her other options, of which she had endless.

After wandering around aimlessly for half an hour, they both found a place to go that they agreed upon. Sasuke pulled into the parking lot of their old elementary school and the two walked to the playground and sat on the swings, side by side. The two looked at each other and then the youngest Uchiha noticed a mischievous glint in the pinkette's eyes, but before Sasuke could move away, she gently hit his arm and exclaimed, "Tag, you're it!" She then laughed and started running across the field to escape the boy who had started chasing her.

Oh how she had missed spending time with him over the years.

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An hour after Mr. Haruno had gotten home, and the two were still gone. Yeah, the guys had definitely been right. Soon was not the correct word at all.

"I don't understand, I thought that if Sakura was ever gone this long it would be with Itachi, not Sasuke." Moigi wailed miserably.

It wasn't that he didn't like the younger Uchiha, on the contrary, he loved that kid a lot, but Sakura had been more friendly toward Itachi from what the pale haired man had seen.

"Why would Sakura-Chan be with Itachi here instead of Teme?" Naruto asked incredulously.

In response Mr. Haruno rubbed his temples to avoid his oncoming headache.

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"You, sir, are a cheater." The pinkette laughed as both her and Sasuke fell to the grass, panting for breath.

"I'm the cheater? You climbed on top of the swings at an attempt to avoid being tagged!" the blue haired teen exclaimed with amusement.

Sakura stuck her tongue out at the Uchiha before replying, "That so wasn't cheating! I was simply using all available resources…"

The cherry blossom looked away for a second and, in that instance, Sasuke pinned her to the ground and declared, "I just won this argument!"

Not one to give in, Sakura struggled against the boy's hold on her, but to no avail. Finally, after ten minutes she conceded her defeat; pouting the entire time.

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At the house, the guys all got tired of waiting, and Moigi was very worried for his daughter's and Sasuke's safety; out there all alone at this ungodly hour.

"I'm done! I don't know about you guys, but I am definitely going out to find those two. I can't take this anymore!" Pein blurted out in anger.

Looking around the room he noticed that everyone else agreed, so, without further ado, they separated to their own separate vehicles and left in search of their two friends. Everyone, even Moigi, had left the house.

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"Let's get going. I'm pretty sure everyone is a mixture of worried and pissed." The pinkette laughed softly.

Sasuke smirked thinking _'I'm betting that Pein is just pissed, considering I basically stole his date.'_ Finally, looking over at the radiant girl beside him, the blue haired teen agreed and the two left; headed towards the Haruno residence.

When they got there, everything was dark, so the two assumed that the guys had all turned in for the night. Sakura decided not even to head upstairs because she was betting that her room had no vacancy, but it didn't really bother her. Instead, she and Sasuke pulled out the bed from inside the couch in the living room, grabbed a few pillows and blankets from the hall closet, and laid down to get some needed sleep.

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Suigetsu was the first to enter the house when they realized that their search was futile. Konohagakure was huge and there was no way that they would find them. Naruto had even suggested going to the tree Sakura and Sasuke had met beneath. It seemed like a promising enough place so they went. Neither of the two had been there. They hadn't been at their old elementary school either. Now everyone was just coming back to wait again.

The light was on the opposite side of the room and all the guys argued about who should go turn it on. Finally Hidan gave in, cursing along the way, and flipped the light on. Conversation halted when Sakura and Sasuke, the objects of everyone's frustration, were fast asleep on the bed that usually was hidden in the couch. Sakura had her head on Sasuke's chest, and his arm was wrapped around her waist in an almost protective manner.

The guys in the room all gave each other a meaningful look before the light was flipped back off and they headed off to different rooms to sleep. Moigi tip toed past the two teen's sleeping forms and thought_ 'I knew they would be back soon'_ before he headed off to bed, a smile on his face.

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I know I have been a bad girl and not updated for like two or three months and I'm sorry but I was getting out of my SasuSaku mood… so it took awhile to decide how to continue the chapter… but I'm back in my SasuSaku mood and the party can get rolling again! I gave you a bunch of SasuSaku Fluff so be happy damn it! Heh… anyways, review please.


	13. Midnight Spin

Akatsuki Sakura Uchiha: Thank you very much, and again I apologize for the delay.

Filipinochick: I'm very happy that you liked it and I will try to do better with the updating thing.

HomeSkillitBiscuit.93: Thank you very much ^-^

Random Person who didn't put in a name: She was naked, it shows that she is comfortable enough around him to be so in front of him and that she trusts him enough to not try anything or make a rude/embarrassing comment.

"_They weren't lying when they said, 'We can rewrite history too.'"_

_~In the Air (Revival) ~_

Midnight Spin

"Wake up love birds, its time to get ready for school!" a male voice was heard right in the ear of a, now awake and pissed, Sasuke Uchiha.

Next to aforementioned Uchiha, Sakura was stretching to help wake herself up before replying, "Love birds my ass. I mean, yeah, Sasuke's hair looks like a chicken's ass, but that, sir, is irrelevant. Does my hair look like any type of bird? I think not."

The loud mouth that had woken them up, Naruto, laughed and replied, "Right now I would say your hair looks more like a bird's ass then Teme's!"

"Oh, look at this," Sakura started, while looking at the top of her bare wrist, "it looks like it's just about time for your daily dose of ass kicking."

Sasuke, attempting to hide his amusement, for emotions were weaknesses that were rarely ever seen on him (except the night before), growled, "I vote for a double dose; one from you and one from me."

"Now now, no need for such violence. I was just kidding." The rambunctious blonde said while backing away from his two best friends slowly, watching them like prey watches its predator.

Without warning Sasuke tackled Naruto to the ground and held him down while Sakura tickled the blonde.

"I give! Please stop, I'm dying here!" the blonde laughed and pleaded for mercy.

Sakura relented on her attack and then the youngest Uchiha let Naruto up off the ground. Once Naruto was up, Mr. Haruno came out of his room and reminded the three that, not only did they need to get ready for school, but they needed to wake up all the boys who were sleeping in Sakura's room so they could get ready as well.

The cherry blossom gave her two best friends her best "puppy dog" look and then asked, "Could you guys wake them up for me please?"

Naruto agreed automatically and ran upstairs. Sasuke, on the other hand, gave Sakura a suspicious look before asking, "What are you planning?"

The pinkette laughed in response and then said, "I just wanted to take a shower before anyone else could."

"I don't think so, you're a girl. Girls take forever in the shower and we only have two hours for everyone to get ready and head to school." The darker haired teen replied.

"Whatever, I only take five to ten minutes in the shower, I swear." Sakura explained to him.

"OK fine, I bet you that you will take longer than that though." The Uchiha smirked, knowing the pinkette would take that as a challenge; and she didn't disappoint him.

"Okay, I'll take that bet. If I win then you have to publicly date Deidara for a week." Sakura grinned devilishly.

Before Sasuke could respond, Deidara himself walked down the stairs and said, "What about me?"

The two "rivals" of the moment explained to the feminine looking blonde man what they were betting on. The only question Deidara had was, "What do we get in return?"

Sakura knew that was coming since she had included him in on it, and she responded, "I don't know. You have to work that out amongst yourselves."

When the boys decided what they wanted, the cherry blossom stared at them with disbelief but agreed and called Naruto down so that he could be the non biased partisan that started the timer right when he heard the shower start and to stop the timer as soon as the shower turned off.

"Okay, the shower started, now we play the waiting game." The more obnoxious of the two blondes said, feeling rather cool having had a chance to finally say that like he had wanted to since he was little.

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When the door to the bathroom opened, revealing Sakura in nothing but a towel since her clothes were in her room, the three looked at Naruto expectantly.

Naruto cleared his throat and then announced, "It took you exactly twelve minutes."

The pinkette stared wide eyed and then mechanically walked to her, thankfully empty, room and just threw on an outfit. When she came out she was wearing ripped purple stone wash skinny jeans, black jump boots, and a black tank top that said "Bless the Fall" in white cursive writing on the chest. She also had on a gothic cross necklace, a bracelet made out of a thin chain on her left wrist, and a chain connected to her Anarchy wallet that was in her back pocket on the right side.

All the guys were staring at her in slight fear because they had been told of the bet, except Deidara and Sasuke. Those two were smirking at her. Sakura violently pushed between the two, who she deemed assholes at the moment, and went to put on her eyeliner, mascara, and chap stick.

The cherry blossom reemerged and then asked, through gritted teeth to remind herself not to yell, "Are you going to stand there staring all day or are you going to get your asses ready for school?"

Everyone scattered, except Sasuke, who asked to have a word with her. She grudgingly agreed, and they were about to go talk in Sakura's room when her dad came up and offered them his room because it was more private and he had heard Sasuke wanted to talk to her alone.

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"What do you want Sasuke?" Sakura grit out with malice.

"I just wanted to tell you that you don't have to go through with it if you don't want to. I mean I don't want you upset—" Sakura cut Sasuke off and responded, a bit more calmly, "It's too late for that, and I always go through with a bet when I lose, you know that. So save the speech, I'm still doing it."

"Okay, well I want to give you something real quick before we head to school, it's at my house. Do you want to come with me or would you rather just wait here for me to come back?" the blue haired teen asked.

"I'll come with you. The last time I decided to wait here for you we didn't see each other again for five years. It may sound superstitious, but I don't care. Whenever you ask me that question I will always choose to go with you now." The pinkette decided with certainty.

Sasuke gave a nod of understanding and the two left for the Uchiha Residence.

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"Holy shit you actually have a jewelry box?" Sakura laughed out once the two teens had reached Sasuke's room and he started digging through the objects contents.

The youngest Uchiha chose not to respond, but felt a light blush cover his cheeks. He was just glad she hadn't gotten a clear view of it. His grandmother had got it for him after she had come to visit the year before. When she saw that all his necklaces were hanging on his wall she had decided he needed a jewelry boy, the only problem was that the box had pink Sakura petals painted around the sides with an entire Sakura tree painted on the top. _'Oh the irony…'_ Sasuke couldn't help but think.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, the dark haired teen found what he was looking for. He grabbed the charm out of the jewelry box and quickly hid the box away before the pinkette could get a good luck at it. Sasuke then turned around and presented the girl with the charm.

"Oh, thanks Sasuke, but where do you want me to put it?" Sakura asked in question.

"Just wear it on your bracelet; it is just a chain after all." The Uchiha suggested.

The Cherry blossom used his suggestion and a few minutes later had a small silver razorblade charm on her bracelet. Once that task was complete, she went over and hugged Sasuke as she said, "I guess you can be promoted to douche instead of asshole for now." Sakura pulled away and laughed as did Sasuke. The two then headed back to the Haruno house where everyone was waiting for them.

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The entire gang was getting ready to head to school, but then Mr. Haruno pulled Sakura aside to have a word with her.

"Sakura, I know that you have your license and a license for a motorcycle so I decided to buy you this." Moigi explained as he opened the garage showing her a black Chevy V-8 520 HP motorcycle.

She thought she had died and gone to heaven when she laid her eyes upon it; it was gorgeous.

"Thank you so much dad!" the pinkette squealed and hugged her father.

After the hug, everyone drove off to school.

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"I'm gonna go get my schedule before people get here and notice me. I have a feeling that I won't be left alone once some of our friends spot me." The Cherry blossom said before quickly heading to the office as soon as the group got to school.

Once she was gone, the boys started talking.

"I have a genius idea. We all seem to get along pretty well, right?" Pein asked everyone as a whole.

All present nodded their heads. Aside from the jealousy, even Sasuke got along okay with them.

"Well, why don't Sasuke, Naruto, Suigetsu, and Sakura all join our group; four new members of the Akatsuki gang. How 'bout it?" The ginger asked.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Suigetsu were down with it; now all they had to do was get Sakura's answer. Speaking of…

"Hey Sakura, what classes do you have?" Suigetsu asked, since he was the first one to notice her emerge from the hell called Konoha High School. (Not very original, I know but where I come from, it's called Warrenton high School. Guess what the name of the town is?)

She handed him her schedule. As it turned out, she had 1st period with Itachi and Hidan (AP Government, though for them it would just be normal Government), 2nd period with Naruto and Sasuke (Family, Food, and Finance), 3rd period with Suigetsu (Algebra 2), 4th period with Pein and Deidara (German 1), 5th period with Sasori (Architectural Draft and Interior design 2), and 6th period with all of them (Material Science 2.) Well, 6th period was going to be pretty eventful.

After the comparing of schedules, Deidara was about to ask her if she was cool with joining the Akatsuki gang, but was cut off by a male voice from about a yard away yelling, "I'd recognize that pink hair anywhere. Long time no see Sakura."

Aforementioned girl turned to see who was speaking to her and stared in disbelief as she softly whispered, "Gaara…"

"In the flesh," the red head responded with an awkward smile. She was the only one he really smiled for. He did it because it always seemed to make her happy.

"Gaara, I missed you so much!" Sakura cried and ran to him for an embrace. She was also one of the only people he allowed to touch him without maiming them or worse.

"Oh come on, it's only been about 2 months since we hung out." Gaara responded while he was returning her hug.

After hearing this, both Sasuke and Naruto yelled, "Wait what?" and then, "Explain yourself!"

Sakura turned back to them and retorted, "Gaara came to visit me every summer after I moved away. He came and stayed with me at the same time every year because he didn't ever want me to feel lonely and like no one back home missed me. He came and told me how much everyone missed me and he always celebrated my birthday with me because he thought I deserved to have one of my close friends present for every year older I became."

Once her explanations were over, both boys felt badly for not visiting, and were jealous of Gaara's relationship with Sakura. Naruto was afraid that she had grown to be better friends with Gaara then she was with them. Sasuke was worried that the pinkette and fallen in love with the violent red head before them. _'Not so violent with her'_ the youngest Uchiha forced himself to mentally correct.

Itachi reminded everyone that class started in 5 minutes. He then took Sakura with him so she wouldn't get lost and be late for her first day of class.

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I can't promise you that this will be updated regularly but I will update it every now and then; whenever inspiration hits. Thank you to my readers for putting up with my lateness. I hope you haven't grown tired of this story. I'm going to try to write more often, but as I already said; I can't promise you anything.

On a side note, I allow anonymous responses because sometimes a person doesn't want to take the time to sign in, or they don't have an account. If you do, and just don't want to sign in then I would appreciate if you at least sign it with your username. If you don't have an account, please sign it with something and don't leave it blank. I like being able to name who I'm responding to.

Anyways, thanks again and please review


	14. Never Shout Never

SupremeOverlordLetters: I'm glad you like the choice of music ^~^ and I will be updating the story, just not as fast I was hoping to in the beginning.

Filipinochick: I was planning on using him actually. Along with a few others such as Neji, but that's probably because I like Sakura with him too

Iloveallanime15: Yes lol and thanks for the review

Ur worst nightmare452: Thank you and I'm updating as fast as is possible for me at the moment.

"_You tell me that you love me; then you go and leave me. Oh, I'm lovesick."_

_~Lovesick~_

Never Shout Never

First period was actually a lot more entertaining than Sakura had imagined it would be, despite the fact that her, Itachi, and Hidan did not fit in with everyone else. It was strange to her that so few people dressed the way that she did now. She had moved to a bigger city so she was used to being one of several students in class that looked the way she did.

The pinkette also found it strange that she knew practically nobody in that class; well until she remembered that this was a senior class that she had been able to sign up for. Honestly she was glad that they had all the classes she had been taking. Well, they didn't have AP Government exactly. They had the normal government class for seniors though, so principal Tsunade just put her in that and called it AP Government on her schedule.

Her government teacher didn't like her, she could tell. It was because she couldn't keep her opinions to herself. Apparently, the week before she had gotten here, the class was supposed to have come up with reasons as to why they believed that women should, or should not, be allowed to participate in wrestling. The last day of the assignment, though she had done no research, he was still curious about her opinion on the matter.

_ "Sakura, would you care to share your thoughts on this issue?" the teacher had asked._

_ The Cherry Blossom glanced over to Itachi, who was sitting right next to her, and smirked before responding with an affirmative. Itachi knew she was going to say something to get herself in major trouble and it was only her first day here. It was such a Hidan thing to do… though he supposed now it could also be labeled a Sakura thing to do._

_ "I don't think that they should be allowed to be in wrestling." The pinkette had responded, with an overly sweet smile._

_ "And why would that be?" the teacher asked, approval of her answer lacing his voice. Little did he know that approval was going to turn into a detention for her in just a few moments._

_ "Well, it has always been my belief that guys who joined wrestling were homosexuals—with the whole spandex suits and sweaty men all over each other. I feel that it wouldn't be right to make it so they had to "grope" a girl because they would feel very uncomfortable about it." Sakura stated, with a straight face the entire time._

Hidan and Itachi had laughed their asses off (Itachi laughing quietly of course), along with a couple others in the class. Unfortunately no one else found it too funny because everyone else was either a wrestler, friends with a wrestler, or was dating a wrestler. If not dating a wrestler, they at least had a crush on one of the wrestlers. The worst part about it all was the pinkette didn't find out until after she got her detention slip that her teacher, Senju Sensei, was the wrestling coach.

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Itachi had taken it upon himself to show Sakura where her Food, Family, and Finance (or 3F for short) class was. The cherry blossom thanked the older Uchiha before bounding into the classroom, finding her two best friends, and sitting in the desk that they had between them. Already she could feel the hateful glares of quite a few girls in the class. _'Oh yippee, another school where I don't get along with many females.'_ The pinkette thought with a low sigh.

Sakura was awoken from her brooding by an elbow in her side. She turned and glared at Sasuke before hearing the teacher cough and ask, "Can you repeat to me what I just said Miss Haruno?"

"No, sorry to disappoint you but I haven't been listening to a word you said this entire time." The pinkette supplied with a smirk that was more characteristic of an Uchiha.

The whole class was glancing back and forth nervously between Sakura and the teacher, expecting the worst. You can imagine their surprise once the teacher laughed and said, "Thank you for your honesty, but try to pay more attention. I don't want you failing my class."

The cherry blossom nodded slightly in understanding and started to partially tune into what was happening around her for the rest of the period.

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"Hey Sakura!" Suigetsu called down the hallway as he jogged up to the pinkette.

Upon hearing her name, the cherry blossom turned her attention to the panting speaker and raised her eyebrow in question.

"Wanna skip math with me?" the silver haired teen suggested with a wide smile.

'_Now this is the kind of person I need to be chilling with.'_ Sakura thought with a grin before nodding in acceptance.

"Where are we headed exactly?" the pinkette questioned once they were able to slip out of the school undetected.

Suigetsu just gave a mischievous smile in response and continued walking. The cherry blossom rolled her eyes in annoyance while muttering, "Douche nozzle..." under her breath, but she didn't press the issue.

After about 5 minutes of walking and dodging hall monitors, the pair ended up at the Park across the street from the school. _'Elite Park, not too much of a distance but that's probably for the best since we have 3 more classes to attend.'_

"I used to play here all the time when I was little; kicked Naruto's ass at tag." Sakura said absentmindedly, remembering one time in particular when Naruto tripped over air. Literally, it had to have been air; there was nothing else there for him to trip on.

"Not me, I grew up in Root for awhile and then we moved to Sound City. We moved here when I was 14. Sasuke and Naruto talked about you constantly, and from what Shikamaru says… or more complains about… they haven't shut up about you since you moved away. Actually I was pretty excited to meet you." Suigetsu explained.

The pinkette smiled before responding, "Sounds like something Shikamaru would do. Actually Sound City is where I had moved to. How come I didn't see you around? We were in the same city for 2 years."

The lavender eyed teen shrugged and said, "I was home schooled and didn't get out much. I hadn't really lived there long before I moved anyways; so it's a good thing I didn't get out and meet a lot of new people. I would have just lost more friends."

Sakura gave the boy a sympathetic look and nod of understanding. She knew how it felt to lose close friends. She would have bet her life that while he was telling her about losing more friends, he had a person or two specifically in mind from his first move.

Suigetsu shook his head to rid himself of the image of his best friend from Root. Short Dark hair and black eyes set on skin pale enough it could almost blend in with the snow slowly faded away. That last image of him, waving goodbye with a fake smile plastered on—a fake smile that hid the real emotion that was bubbling just underneath the surface—it was burned into Suigetsu's memory; he was, however, able to keep the image at bay most of the time.

"So Sakura," the silver haired teen smiled a lecherous smile and raised his eyebrows before continuing, "are you a virgin?"

"No my good sir, I am not." Sakura responded very honestly. She was so glad to meet someone that was upfront about everything.

"Oooh, when and to anyone I may have been acquainted with?"

The pinkette smiled at him and said, "Just a second, I'll text him to see if he minds people here knowing."

**Heeey there ol' buddy ol' pal ;)**

_**Hey Sakura. Wats up?**_

**I gotz a question for ya… actually 2**

_**I have a feeling I'm going to regret this. Wat r the questions?**_

**First off, what class are you in right now? Cuz you, sir, are responding very quickly. Which I appreciate btw**

_**I'm a TA this period. You're answering fast too. Class?**_

**Skipped math with one of my new buds**

_**You brought your weed to school with you Sakura?**_

**Bud as in friend smartass. And I still gotz 1 more question**

_**Alright… *sigh* shoot**_

**Suigetsu wants to know who I lost my virginity too. Can I tell him?**

_**Sure, it's not like I'm ashamed of it or anything. I just haven't told anyone cuz no one asked**_

** Kk. Prepare for glares from a certain best friend of mine tho… maybe both actually**

_**Lol I can handle myself Sakura, don't worry**_

Finally, the pinkette looked up from her phone and responded, "He said it was okay. I was 15 and it was Gaara; one of the times he came up to visit me during the summer."

Suigetsu was stunned and honestly didn't know what to say. Gaara being physical like that with anyone was almost beyond comprehension. The only female contact that Suigetsu himself had ever seen the red head allow was when his older sister forcibly hugged him in the hallways. And allow was being generous. The proper word, after witnessing the sight, would be _tolerate_.

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Gaara, for his part, wished he could be there to see the look on the silver haired teen's face when he heard Gaara's name come out of Sakura's mouth. It was well known that the red head was not an affectionate person, but Sakura was different. The pinkette was in a category all her own. They confided in each other. He had been there for her many a night back when she used to cry herself to sleep.

She had missed Naruto and Sasuke to the point that it hurt and would cry until she could barely breathe and Gaara himself could feel her heart racing. There were a few times where she could manage to gasp out "My heart hurts" and that was the end of it; her sobs took over once again. Two hours of this every night. It was hard to watch. It was even worse when he had to leave, knowing that she now had to deal with the pain all alone every night for another year.

After her emotional breakdown, the pinkette would always apologize. She felt horrible that she was leaning on Gaara. She knew of his awful childhood, one of the many things he had confided in her, and here she was—a total wreck just because she missed two people. It hadn't been long after one of those apologies that the red head ended up showing her just how sorry she shouldn't be; just how much he cared for her. No, he didn't love her and she didn't love him—not in the romantic sense—but they were two friends who had grown very close over the past 3 years and they had both needed that reassurance you can only acquire through the intimate tangle of bodies.

Gaara was snapped out of his reverie by the teacher he was the TA for talking to him. He really needed to quit thinking about his intimate moments with the pinkette because being that turned on in the middle of a class was not good for his focus.

While accomplishing the tasks given to him by Gai Sensei, he removed his phone from the back pocket of his jeans and texted the object of his newly acquired lust.

_**Sakura… wat r u doing after school?**_

**Um idk. Nothing that I know of.**

_**Well now you have plans. At my house this time**_

**Oooh that's a first. Kk, I'll meet ya there**

_**Right after school**_

**Well someone's a little anxious ;)**

_**Ya anxious. That's the word we'll use**_

**See ya then. Headed back to the school. Lunch should be starting in like 2 mins. Let's chill. Wat lunch u have?**

_**First. I'll meet u at the stone tables by the back entrance…**_

**We don't have to wait until after school ya know. There is this place called under the bleachers**

_**So there is… I might take u up on that**_

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And we are to the sexual themes. It's rated T so no lemon for you…. But it's implied. And yes it's still SasuSaku but I see no reason to stick with the ever popular "I'm a virgin… take me Sasuke. I only want you" bullshit. This right here, is realistic. And I shamelessly add in there my GaaSaku fix while still being able to pair her with Sasuke eventually. Anywhoo… Chapter 14 for ya.


	15. Owl City

Iloveallanime16: I'm glad you like story, even with our not-so-innocent Sakura.

"_I am not my own, for I have been made new. Please don't let me go; I desperately need you."_

_~Meteor Shower~_

Owl City

When Lunch time rolled around, the group of guys (minus Suigetsu) were wondering where Sakura was. Suigetsu, being a bit smarter than he acted, left before anyone could question him since he and the Pinkette were supposed to have had class together; when Sasuke turned to question Suigetsu, he noted his absence. _'Something is going on. Suigetsu never leaves without saying anything.'_ The youngest Uchiha thought with a frown.

"Hey Sasuke, what's with the long face?" a shrill voice, that the raven haired teen recognized immediately, cut through his ponderings.

"Hn," was the boy's only response to the bothersome blonde's question, so she rounded on Naruto.

"Well Ramen Boy? What's got this bastard's tighty whiteys in a twist?" the girl questioned, ignoring the dark glare now directed at her by the "bastard" aforementioned.

"Um… Ino, how do you know what Sasuke's underwear look like? Not even Sakura or I know that and we've been his best friends for years." Naruto questioned suspiciously.

"I don't. I just assumed that since he's in such an irritable mood that his underwear must be tight, and he didn't bother to correct me." The blonde, Ino, smiled enthusiastically and then continued with, "Speaking of, where is Forehead?"

As if the world had heard the inquiry, the pinkette walked up just behind Ino with Gaara by her side… and waited. She stood there silently with Gaara waiting for Ino to turn around. Sakura looked to her left side and up at Gaara with a mischievous glint in her eyes. He knew what she wanted, and he obliged. Without a word exchanged between the two, Gaara lightly pulled Sakura behind him and put the most ominous look on his face he could muster for when Ino turned around.

"You guys are of no help!" the blonde female cried out in exasperation and threw her hands up in the air. She turned to leave, and was stopped in her tracks by a very pissed looking red head.

She cleared her throat nervously and said, "Uh, sorry Gaara. I didn't mean to get in your way…"

While Ino was distracted by her fear of the red heads wrath, Sakura quietly slipped into the seat between Naruto and Sasuke, then cleared her throat and said, "Hey Ino."

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For Sasuke's part, he had seen Sakura walk up with Gaara. To his relief they weren't holding hands. The two were just walking, like friends do. He really wasn't sure why he was so jealous of the red head. Sure, Gaara had been there every year for Sakura after she had moved… but that wasn't what caused the jealousy. That caused his regret and guilt. He and Naruto were supposed to be her best friends; they should have been the ones there for her. So he supposed he was thankful that the red head did that so she wasn't completely alone.

Sasuke's jealousy on the other hand, that one he couldn't tell you why. Gaara hadn't done anything to show a romantic interest in the pinkette, but he just had this feeling that not everything was as it seemed between the two; like they were hiding something. This was a ridiculous thought because Sakura wouldn't hide things from them; at least he hoped she wouldn't.

Sasuke was broken from his thoughts by Sakura's inquiry, which he hadn't actually caught.

"Sorry Sakura, what was that?" Sasuke apologized.

The pinkette laughed and responded, "It's fine; I do that shit sometimes too. Anyhow, I asked you where Suigetsu was. I was with him just before lunch started and he said he was going to meet up with you guys."

Before the raven haired teen could answer, a masculine voice cried out, "There you are Pinky! I've been dying to meet you; the better half of the gang has been talking about you all day."

The pinkette looked up to see a guy, maybe a year older than Itachi, with blue-gray skin and very dangerous-looking sharp teeth. Atop his head was hair so dark gray that it could be mistaken for black and his cheeks held very realistic gill tattoos. While his appearance was one that meant to be intimidating, Sakura broke into a smile. In his black eyes she could see good cheer and humor. Odd combination, though it was, she learned awhile ago to not judge others by their appearance… except whores. They were what they appeared to be.

"Hey there, name's Sakura Haruno and you are?"

The man laughed and replied "Kisame Hoshigaki, part of the Akatsuki."

"Well don't be a stranger, join us. What's up?"

"Actually I just caught up with you. I saw you and the Ginger here," Kisame motioned towards Gaara, "and just thought I would tell you that the roof of the school works way better. No one ever checks up there. Hall monitors will, however, check the bleachers; even under them."

"Well thanks for the tip Shark Man, but how do you expect us to get up there? Isn't it locked?"

Kisame looked around and then smirked and responded, "Talk to me tomorrow morning before school starts. I'll be waiting at Smoker's Corner. If you smoke I'll give you a few cigarettes while we chat. Bring your boy toy if you want, or come by yourself. It's really up to you."

"Thanks Kisame, see you tomorrow then?"

"You can bet on it Pinky." The man stood up and walked away.

Sasuke had a very bad feeling he was going to regret what he was about to ask, but he did anyways, "What did he mean by saw you guys and the bleachers?"

Naruto piped in, "And why did he call Gaara your boy toy?"

The pinkette looked at her two dense best friends and then said, "He meant he saw us fucking and didn't want us to get caught and expelled."

The raven haired teen got up and walked away.

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He couldn't believe it. Sakura had slept with Gaara, and at freakin' school! Now he knew why he had that feeling. She had been hiding something from them, _'Well, not necessarily. We asked, and she told us. Maybe it's just one of those things. The whole "don't ask; don't tell…'_ he thought this as he grabbed his ipod and listened to the "CD" that, Ironically, Sakura had gotten him; when he turned 15. When he turned it on, "My Swagger has a First Name" had just started.

_**Your weaknss!**_

_**But if you like to fight**_

_**This is the last time!**_

_**This is the last time!**_

'_Why the fuck did I even ask her? God, I knew the answer before I even asked… I just guess I wanted her to confirm it…'_

_**Dried up and away with discerning mental love affairs**_

_**I'd rather stick with any number of these played out fairy tales and**_

_**Moments of your yellow shining**_

_**Spending your time hidden in hiding**_

_**Making out your reasons why the life you're seen the public eye**_

_**When everything you try**_

_**Well it's never good enough!**_

_ 'No, not confirm it. I wanted it to just sound bad, but not mean anything sexual between them. I love this girl, but now I don't know how I'll be able to be around her…'_

_**Oh! These friends die easy**_

_**Oh! Just disappear**_

_**Oh! Well my best friend, I knew these lives would end up here and…**_

_**Oh! These friends die easy**_

_**Oh! Just disappear**_

_**Oh! Well my best friend, I knew these lives would end up here and…**_

'_Calm down Sasuke, she doesn't even know you have feelings towards her other than friendship. It's not like she's doing it to upset you… if she thought it would upset you she wouldn't have done it…'_

_**Your weakness!**_

_**But if you like to fight**_

_**This is the last time!**_

_**This is your last time!**_

'_I should just tell her… no, I can't. What if it ruins our friendship and she starts feeling awkward around me? Then I'd lose her all together…'_

_**If I could tell you any and everything**_

_**Don't ask just tell! Like I should**_

_**Like I know you never could and**_

_**Moments come out of hiding spitting weakness to colors shining**_

_**The dark you see, the reason why you fail at everything you try**_

_**When everything you are**_

_**Well it's never good enough!**_

"Well, that's enough of that song…" Sasuke said to himself as he pulled out his headphones and tilted his head back to stop the few tears that were about to escape. _'Horrible song to listen to right now.'_

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"Gaara, we're friends and I like you a lot… but if you hurt my dear Sakura-Chan then I will have no choice but to kick your ass." Naruto threatened casually.

Sakura rolled her eyes and said, "We aren't dating Naruto. He's fine."

Naruto's eyes bulged out of his head (figuratively speaking) at that news. He then stood up and proceeded to make a scene.

"Sakura-Chan! How could you be sleeping with him if you aren't dating him?"

Gaara stood and glared at Naruto before hissing, "Keep your fucking voice down. Our personal business does not need to be overheard by the whole school! And you have no right to be indignant considering **you** slept with **my** sister at a party last week!"

The pinkette smirked hearing that news while Naruto deflated and sat down.

"You're right Gaara. Sorry, I'm just a little wound up about Sakura. She's my best friend that I haven't seen since I was 12…" the blonde explained.

Gaara nodded in understanding and then looked to Sakura and said, "You want to go find the moody Uchiha?"

The pinkette snorted, "Which one?"

Gaara opened his mouth to tell her but she had already stood up and left. _'Ahh, her smartass comments again.'_ The red head thought to himself and gave an imperceptible smile.

The table was quiet for a whole minute before Naruto deemed it safe to confide something to Gaara, "Hey… I have a favor to ask."

The red head looked at Naruto questioningly.

"Well, Sasuke he really likes Sakura. Seriously, I'm over 100% certain that he is in love with her and has been since we were little… so could you keep your sexual escapades with her to a minimum please?"

Gaara was silent a moment and then said, "I'll make a deal with you Naruto. I will keep our encounters as minimal as possible, but you have to stay away from my sister."

"Deal!"

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The pinkette had found the youngest Uchiha brooding in the middle of the football field out back. She walked up to him and hugged him from behind. Sasuke stiffened and then, recognizing her scent and the way she felt against him, relaxed into her hold.

"Hey Sasuke, do you remember our song? The one we always used to sing together?"

Sasuke gave a small chuckle and nodded before answering, "God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You by N'sync. You loved that band, so I gave in and sang with you."

"Can this be true, tell me can this be real? How can I put into words what I feel?"

Sasuke looked up as Sakura continued her first part, "My life was complete; I thought I was whole… why do I feel like I'm losing control?"

And then Sasuke sang for her, like he knew she wanted. Just something to bring back old times, "I never thought that love could feel like this… then you changed my world with just one kiss. How can it be that right here with me is an angel? It's a miracle…"

At this point the couple had rearranged themselves so that Sasuke was lying on his back and Sakura was lying on him. Both looking at each other and smiling fondly as the memories played in their heads….

…And then the bell to start heading to class rang and ruined the moment.

_'Well…off to German class I guess…'_ Sakura thought with a sigh. Not shortly after though, she brightened up; remembering that Pein and Deidara were in her class.

Sasuke, he felt better. Not perfect, but better. She had come to find him and cheer him up. There was no way that he was going to let this minor setback stop him from being around. Besides, she wouldn't let him leave her anyways.

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Alrighty guys, here is chapter 15, hope you like it. Also, I appreciate all the people favoriting my story and following my story…and those doing the same to me as an author. However, I would really like feedback from you guys. Iloveallanime16, I appreciate that you left a comment and please don't take my next statement as disregarding it at all because I love your reviews I really do.

To everyone else, only having one review was a little distressing for me. Reading reviews is what gives me my inspiration to keep writing usually.

Anyways, that said, enjoy the upcoming chapter. And I love you all!


	16. Pierce the Veil

Iloveallanime16: Nobody is a saint, not really. I wanted to make sure Sakura portrayed that. She isn't necessarily a bad person, but she also isn't the most innocent either. She's a normal 17 year old girl, who likes to have fun; there is nothing wrong with that, and I can tell that you agree. Naruto is just lucky that Gaara didn't kill him after his incident with Temari… and I'm glad you liked the chapter *smiles*

"_I lay down, I drank the poison then I passed the fuck out. Now let me tell you about the good life; I have a million different kinds of fun when I'm asleep and in a dream that I'm your only one."_

_~Disasterology~_

Pierce the Veil

Once Sakura and Sasuke were inside the school they parted ways, heading to their own classes. The pinkette didn't really mind German class too much so she saw no need to skip it like she did with math; not that she wouldn't if it was offered. She was always up for playing hooky.

While she was distracted with her thoughts, she bumped into someone and started her descent backwards. Before Sakura hit the ground, however, she felt a grip around her wrist and she was promptly being pulled back upright.

"Still just as troublesome as ever, huh, Haruno?" came a voice that, while she didn't exactly recognize, she had a hunch as to who it belonged to.

The pinkette glanced at the taller boy. His brunette hair was pulled up into a ponytail atop his head and his matching brown eyes held amusement within their depths. One look at this guy, and her suspicions were proven correct.

"And pray tell how exactly I'm the troublesome one, Nara." Sakura retorted with a challenge in her voice.

"You're going to make me late for my German class." The lazy teen from Sakura's memories answered with a slight smirk.

"Shikamaru you fucking pain in my ass, you're walking _away_ from the classroom. You were gonna end up late anyways." The Pinkette replied and then stuck her tongue out at him briefly before dodging past him and heading into the classroom.

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As soon as Sakura entered the room she scanned it for her two friends that she knew should be here, but only found one of them. She made her way over to the blonde and sat at the desk in front of him. The pinkette then turned and straddled her chair so she could converse with her dear friend.

"Hey Deidara," Sakura greeted with a genuine smile. She may have still been a little irritated with him from this morning, but she was growing fond of the guy.

"Hey there, yeah; so when do you plan on fulfilling our bet? I want mine to be a tramp stamp! I don't care where you put Sasuke's but don't make it bigger than mine, yeah." Deidara responded with a thoughtful expression.

The pinkette laughed and then said, "I'll get it done as soon as I can get a hold of my ex. He's not only a great artist, but he's been interning for a few years at the Snake Skin Tattoo parlor in Sound City. He is amazing, even the owner is impressed."

"You dated a tattoo artist? _You_ broke up with _him_, right, yeah? No guy would give you up. Why would you break up with a tattoo artist, yeah?" The blonde was questioning her logic.

Sakura rolled her eyes and responded, "It was a mutual break up. I moved here so we broke up. I don't do long distance relationships. I tried once and it didn't work out so well."

Deidara nodded in understanding, and then was startled when the chair beside him was pulled out and Pein occupied it. Sakura smiled at Pein and opened her mouth to greet him, but was interrupted when the bell rang signaling the beginning of class. So instead she turned around in her chair and waited for the teacher to talk. It was someone that the pinkette had never seen before, which told her that this person had moved to Konohagakure within the last 5 years.

Glancing around the room Sakura noticed that German was not a popular class, there were quite a few empty desks, including the one next to her. Her musings were interrupted when she heard someone clear their voice. She looked up and saw her teacher looking at her expectantly. The pinkette raised her eyebrows and said, "What? Do you want me to do a trick or something?"

The rest of the class snickered, the teacher just scowled at her and then said, "I see we have a smartass in out midst. I am going to warn you once, and only once Miss Haruno; I do not tolerate such disrespect in this classroom."

Sakura exaggerated a yawn, leaned back in her chair far enough that her head was against Deidara's desk, and retorted, "Then I'll stand in the hallway while talking to you, if that will help."

The teacher was about to yell at her, she could tell, but her focus was no longer on the teacher. Deidara had started messing with her hair so Sakura was focused on the feeling of the blonde's hands stroking through her pink locks. It had a very calming effect on the girl.

The pinkette tuned back in when she heard their teacher's voice again, but aimed away from her. Glancing to her left she noticed Shikamaru lazily walk through the door.

"You realize, Mr. Nara, that you are tardy?" their teacher asked with a look of disapproval.

"Yeah I do Zabuza Sensei," Shikamaru answered nonchalantly as he made his way to the desk right next to Sakura.

"And it's your third tardy this Semester already, which means detention." The teacher, Zabuza, added.

The brunette shrugged and muttered, "What a drag," and then class commenced.

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Five minutes before class was about to end Deidara reminded the pinkette that they had a date for that night, "And dress formally, yeah." The blonde had added as an afterthought. Sakura nodded and then turned back to pack her shit up, but was stopped again; this time by Pein.

"You have you're next class with Sasori. His classroom is right next to this one on the left. He'll escort you to the place you both have to be." Pein explained quietly.

Finally the brunette's curiosity got the better of him and he blurted out, "Since when were you so close to the Akatsuki Sakura?"

He wasn't sure why he cared so much. Shikamaru had always done his best at minding his own business and definitely not getting into the business of females, but the question was out already and he wanted an answer. It wasn't necessarily that he held a grudge against any of the members of the gang; he just had never pictured Sakura as the type to associate with them. Although five years ago he would have laughed had anyone suggested she would dress the way she was at the present. Not that he was complaining.

"Uhm since the day after I got back, unless you count Itachi. I talked to him on the phone while I was gone." The pinkette responded without hesitation.

Shikamaru felt a little uncomfortable at the moment considering he had two guys behind him very openly glaring at him for his question. He wasn't sure why they were, maybe ha had offended them or something? Oh well, it was too troublesome to deal with so he just chose to ignore it instead and asked Sakura, "When did you get back?" He assumed it was awhile ago, they seemed close and she _was_ going on a date with the blonde one.

"Oh, I got back the evening before yesterday. Why?"

Before Shikamaru could respond, Deidara piped in with narrowed eyes, "Yeah pineapple top, why, yeah?"

Joined in by Pein, "Are you trying to say something?"

At this point the brunette really wished that he had stuck to his normal routine of avoiding other people's business. He certainly knew, for sure now, to never ask Sakura questions again. At least not while members of the Akatsuki were around. Slightly shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he listened to the pinkette scold the troublemakers, "You guys, leave poor Shika-kun alone!"

"It's fine Sakura. I was just wondering because I thought maybe you had been back longer than that I was just out of the loop." Shikamaru stated, going for a half truth.

"Oh well," the pinkette started and then turned and started packing her things up really quickly before continuing, "I wouldn't leave you 'out of the loop' for that long. I didn't even mean for you to just find out now. A lot of stuff has been going on; it just didn't cross my mind to call you."

"It doesn't bother me, but I was wondering—," Shikamaru stopped himself before he could finish that particular sentence. _'What am I thinking? I never ask females things like this. Not even Ino and I dated that girl…'_ the brunette thought to himself.

After a few moments of silence, Sakura was going to ask him what he was wondering; Shikamaru, however, was saved by the bell and he left that classroom faster than Sakura had seen the boy move their entire lives. She quirked an eyebrow in the direction he had gone before navigating her way back into the overpopulated hallways, only to feel a hand wrap around her upper arm and pull her sideways into a body.

The surprised pinkette looked up into the brown eyes of none other than Sasori. He wrapped his arms around her in an embrace, and she returned it. Neither of them spoke a word as he finally released her. The girl had unasked questions in her eyes and the red head had to look away before she could see the pity in his eyes. He knew that if she saw it she would know what he had found out. Sasori wouldn't keep it from her forever, but during her first day back to school was not the best time to see if she wanted to talk about it.

Instead, to avoid any questions she had, he pulled her into him again and whispered in her ear, "I'll escort you to our architecture and design class now."

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SO, I know that this one is a bit shorter than what I've been doing lately and it took me a little longer to update but I wrote with the inspiration that I had. And then I was thinking about not uploading it still… but what the hell. Just because most of you have quit reviewing doesn't mean I should make my one reviewer suffer, at least not without warning. So, this time here's a warning. Chapter 17 will not be updated until I get feedback. Good or bad it doesn't matter. I need to know if you guys are still interested in the story or if I should just delete it.

Oh and I hope you guys enjoyed my brief ShikaSaku-ness, because I enjoyed writing it


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